Rangers finances are probably better known than any other club in British football and because of this, their spending habits are always looked at in more detail – especially by those from the East End of Glasgow.
Football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, from the Price of Football podcast, has spoken to Football Insider about what steps he feels the Ibrox club will take in the transfer market in the immediate future as they look to build on their recent success both on and off the pitch.
When asked about the recent speculation linking Steven Gerrard’s side with a host of pre-contract deals including Preston’s Daniel Johnson, he said:
“We’ve seen a lot of these deals from Rangers, and it’s good thinking in terms of keeping their costs down.
“But we have seen Rangers have increase their spending too. Until 2016-17, they were spending sometimes only £200k or £300k a year. Now they’re now fishing in a different pool, the likes of Ryan Jack and so on.
“The relative success they’re going to have in Europe this year is going to help them as well.
“They seem to know the type of player that they’re looking for. So they’ll get a couple of quasi-marquee signings by their standards.
“Then they’ll go for other players who can prove themselves, and the Championship is a really good place to do that. There are players who can play an awful lot of games in that division, which would make sense for the Scottish Premiership too.”
It’s a market that has proven to be a success before, some European players can struggle with the physicality of the Scottish league but we have seen with the likes of Connor Goldson, James Tavernier and Joe Aribo that the English lower leagues is as good a preparation as any for the demands north of the border.
Do you think we will see any "marquee" signings?
Yes
No
Hopefully Maguire is right in that Rangers continue to splash out on “marquee” players like Kemar Roofe who can immediately improve the first XI but also balance the books with signings like the one that saw Scott Arfield return to Scotland in a policy that looks as though it is about to bear fruit.