Rangers, of course, are going through a summer overhaul of epic proportions. Six players have definitely arrived through the front door, but in this entry, we detail all the departures. They have maybe not happened as aggressively and quickly as Derek McInnes would want. There have been no majorly significant sales as yet. However, Ibrox Noise takes you through Rangers’ summer exits in full who have departed for pastures new. In many cases, they will be saving Rangers a fortune in wages.
James Tavernier leaves Rangers
James Tavernier was, of course, the very first departure. This one is a little curious because, of course, it was due to a fallout with Danny Rohl. Danny Rohl’s management of Tavernier was contemptuous. However, in all fairness, the former coach had about the same opinion of Tavernier as Ibrox Noise does. Consequently, it is not like we can entirely disagree with his disdain for the former captain. Yes, indeed, Ibrox Noise are no fans of Tavernier. He is petty and managed to gain cult status and heroic adulation from fans that he did not deserve. That all said, he is now gone and was the first departure, so we will leave that at that.
Ben Davies joins Bolton Wanderers
The second departure was Ben Davies, a low key, low scale departure. Davies’ contract expired just as Tavernier’s did. Both were let go. In Davies’ case, he did not find too much difficulty in switching club to Bolton Wanderers as a free agent. He is now with the old JJB Stadium (Toughsheet Community Stadium these days), and that will be his career going forward. He cost Rangers a remarkable amount of money too. Just like some other wastage, Rangers lost around £8M on Ben Davies. That included £4.5M in terms of the transfer fee and around £3.5M, give or take, in wages. Another exorbitant waste of cash. But he is gone.
Jack Butland completes Hull City move
As has Jack Butland. He was Rangers’ first (and only) actual sale of the summer. He joined Hull City for £3M, while Rangers, of course, signed Ivor Pandur from the same club. They were 2 entirely separate deals, both fully paid for entirely separately. However, Butland has now departed for a new career and departed with absolute grace. In all honesty, he held most of his Rangers career in the same way as well. He moves on.
Bailey Rice heads to Kilmarnock
Bailey Rice was the next. Hopes had been high that the young midfielder would become a new shining light in midfield. But it was not deemed that he would remain in terms of current minutes. He has gone out on loan to Kilmarnock. He will be under the watchful eye of former Rangers man Neil McCann at Rugby Park. In all fairness, Rice could not be better coached out there. However, some do wonder if it is a jobs for the boys issue regarding McCann himself getting Rice. We are not sure. But the fact is that Rangers have let him go.
John Souttar and Danilo set to depart
Also on the exit, of course, are the 2 that we have mentioned today, John Souttar and Danilo. Neither of these has been confirmed yet, but both do appear inevitable. In Souttar’s case, it will be either Sheffield United or Leicester. Meanwhile, Danilo has interest from Botafogo. Those 2 will join Rangers’ exodus in due course.
Rangers still need more departures
The problem, fundamentally, that Rangers do have is that Rangers’ summer exits in full are nowhere near enough. There is far too much bloat in the squad, and there are way too many midfielders. There is, of course, lots of talk about big money bids for Fernandez, Diomande, Chermiti and Raskin.
But while Rangers received a £14M bid for the Belgian from Hull City, they threw that out pretty fast. There has been nothing else tangible. Lyon have not, as yet, bid anything for Chermiti. That had all been speculation. He himself says he is happy. But Rangers need to ship out a lot of bulk, as well as a few asset players, to bring more in. Rangers cannot keep on signing players at the moment without the outgoings. It is simple FFP and bloat management.
There is no point in signing players while a whole bunch remain on the payroll. They are costing the coffers a huge amount. So we will see in due course who else departs, but we really need it to be kind of soon.