One thing we’ve learned during Ross Wilson’s time at Rangers is that he loves a player into the last 12-months of their contract.
The way that he has improved Steven Gerrard’s squad with players who were out of contract has played a key role in returning us to the top of Scottish football, players like Jon McLaughlin and Leon Balogun proving to be hugely important on the way to 55.
This summer, again, we have seen several players approaching the last year of their contracts linked with moves to Ibrox, Danilho Doekhi and Joseph Okumu in defence, missing out on Dejan Ljubicic for midfield but also being successful with the signings of John Lundstram and Fashion Sakala.
The forward planning never stops and by looking at how we have operated in the past few years, you can get an idea of potential targets for the future, one such player being Blackburn Rovers Adam Armstrong.
The 24-year old striker has 300 senior appearances and 100 goals to his name, playing mainly in the Championship but with Premier League experience to his name when he was at Newcastle United – he is now in the last 12-months of his contract and will be eligible to speak to clubs outside of England in January to discuss a pre-contract move.
Valued at over £16million, he won’t be short of offers but because of cross-border regulations, we have a head start. He is likely to have a choice of two types of club; ones looking to get promoted out of the Championship or, a bottom half Premier League side.
Is £1million a fair price for Kennedy?
Yes
No
We’ve already seen how persuasive Gerrard can be and, with the prospect of automatic group stage football in the Champions League next season, there is no reason why, as in the case with Lundstram and Sakala, that we can’t fight off opposition in “higher” leagues to land an in-demand player.
Young, but experienced, proven track record, good sell-on potential, knows the British game and available on a pre-contract, he ticks a lot of the boxes that our sporting director looks for in a player – don’t be surprised if he is one of many names currently on a list sitting on his desk.