Rangers have returned to Scotland following a successful pre-season trip to France and will now turn their attention to two friendly fixtures – at home – against Motherwell and Coventry City respectively with a renewed focus from Steven Gerrard on the shape of his squad.
At the weekend he reiterated his desire to have a leaner but better quality group of players whilst revealing that a centre-half and striker are top of his shopping list, however, in midfield there remains speculation that 13 times capped Bulgarian international, Kristiyan Malinov, is a target following revelations from his agent, as reported by The Daily Record.
The CSKA Sofia midfielder’s agent, Marko Mihalevich, said of the recent stories linking his client with a move to Ibrox:
“We maintain daily contact with Rangers, but we cannot ignore other teams who also want Kristiyan.
“Rangers have told us they like his qualities and fighting spirit.
“He will choose the club that offers him the best development project. He is an ambitious player and it is important to him to play in an ambitious team.
“CSKA know the situation and are aware that Kristiyan wants to take the next step in his career. They have put a fair price on him, in my opinion and they are prepared to sell him.”
Gerrard has spoken about the need to strengthen the first XI and Malinov, as an established international, is certain the calibre of player that Rangers should be looking to attract to the club, but as always – in recent times at least – there is nothing coming out to suggest that a bid is imminent.
The report claims that £1.5million is the price that the Gers would have to pay to secure the services of Malinov with Bongani Zungu of Amiens also linked, the South African defensive midfielder fuelling speculation by sharing a social media post of him watching the 2-0 win over Lyon – both players play in the same area of the park so it could be a case of one or the other.
With less than a fortnight until the Scottish Premiership kicks-off, Gerrard will be wanting to have his squad as near to complete as possible to give his side every chance of achieving the consistency required to finally give the Light Blues faithful what they crave the most – title number 55.