Rangers have been faced with potential barrier in their efforts to sign Ivan Toney from Peterborough United with the revelation that they have slapped an £8million price tag on him.
The League 1 striker will be leaving Posh this summer and Noel Whelan, speaking to Football Insider, feels that it is the going rate if the club wants to secure guaranteed goals for the upcoming season.
So what has Whelan said?
When asked about the valuation of the 26-goal striker and if it is in the Gers price ranger, he said:
“It might be too much for Rangers but I do not think it would be a risk because he could easily make the step up to the Scottish Premiership.
“We are not talking about going to the Premier League. At the Old Firm clubs you are going to score goals because you are going to get chances.
“It might be too steep for them with him being a League One player but when you look at the going rate for goalscorer it is not terrible. You are not breaking the bank.
“They can structure the payments over three to four years.
“He is a goalscorer and you have got to pay money for a goalscorer.”
So is Whelan correct?
Absolutely, a player is only worth what a club is willing to sell him for and another is willing to pay, and it appears that Toney is attracting interest at the valuation Peterborough have set.
The issue for Rangers is that – for the money being talked about – Toney would be getting signed to play games, not sit on the bench, which would suggest that he is on a list of potential Alfredo Morelos replacements rather than being lined up as a back-up.
Whether or not the Rangers board would sanction the amount of money being talked about for a League 1 player is another question when there will no doubt be players on Ross Wilson and Steven Gerrard’s radar with continental and international experience available for less.
With Morelos attracting Premier League interest, if he does leave, spending the money wisely and replacing him could well be the difference between one of the greatest seasons in the club’s history or yet another spent watching their bitter rivals clean up yet again.