Rangers begin their summer clean-out following a disappointing season, losing players valued at €30 million.
Rangers may not have finished the Scottish Premiership yet, but they have already started making significant plans for the summer transfer market. The team announced on Tuesday that at least five players from the first squad would be leaving when their contracts expired at the end of the current campaign. More players may follow them out the door if the right offers come in.
Rangers announced that Allan McGregor, Filip Helander, Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent, and Alfredo Morelos will all be departing the team when their contracts expire next month, marking the beginning of what will probably be a significant transition season for the Glasgow side. The five senior players have played in more over 1200 games for the team between them, and their combined market value is just less than €30 million. Particularly Kent and Morelos, whose market values peaked at €17.5 million and €15 million, respectively, were formerly seen to be gifted, marketable players.
Though there may have been memorable high points for both attackers at the Ibrox clubs, like the run to the Europa League final the previous season, Kent and Morelos have only scored 13 and 19 goals and assists respectively so far this season. which is a lot less than what was previously anticipated of the two Rangers players. Furthermore, both players are leaving on free transfers after receiving no compelling bids in recent seasons.
Of course, it’s possible that more players will depart this summer in addition to the five stated above. In response to the departures, club manager Michael Beale recently said that as part of the summer rebuild, the team wanted to add “exciting new players,” with a focus on fresh faces that would “energise with age and energy.” Put otherwise, Beale’s preference for a younger team for the upcoming season may mean that some of the senior stars at Ibrox will no longer be there.
The few senior players who will be entering their final year of contracts this summer and, as such, will give Rangers one last chance to cash in on them, are perhaps the most apparent choices. Ryan Jack, Borna Barisic, John Lundstram, and Kemar Roofe all have contracts that expire in 2024 and are either already thirty or will be by the end of the following season. Beale would be inclined to sell some of them, though, given their aggregate market value is little under €22 million, in order to finance more promising and younger players.
And it appears that more recruits are already on the way. Rangers announced on Wednesday that they have signed 25-year-old playmaker Kieran Dowell to a three-year contract on a free transfer from Norwich City. Dowell joins Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin, two other players who Rangers acquired during the January transfer window, demonstrating their priority on developing younger players. It remains to be seen, though, if that will be sufficient to challenge Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title the following season.
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