After a dominant performance against Aberdeen at the weekend, there has been a lot of talk about what we should do about the options-to-buy clauses on the loan deals of James Sands and Malik Tillman.
Sands started the season as first-choice centre-half alongside Connor Goldson and performed admirably, however, his recent performances in midfield have reminded fans of what he is capable of when he is given more of a license to get around the park. The added bonus of allowing John Lundstram to get forward has seen the beginnings of a decent partnership emerge.
At 22-years old, Sands still has a lot of developing to do but has all the tools to be a success at Rangers; strong, good in the air, comfortable with the ball and aggressive, he has a skillset that means he can adapt to both Scottish and European football.
Personally, I think he has a bigger future in midfield but being able to drop back into defence is a useful quality. The only issue is the reported $6million fee that it would require to sign him.
If the fee was agreed upon based on the January 2021 exchange rate then something in the region of £4m is probably about right for a player of his age and talent, you could argue that you could get a similar player for cheaper, but that’s another point.
If the fee is to be paid on the exchange rate when Rangers pay the fee then it could be a completely different story, it would now be over £5m because of the strength/weakness of the pound.
As we’ve seen before though, in the case of Ianis Hagi, Ross Wilson has been able to renegotiate fees – I like Sands, but for £5m? I’d be hoping that we could get closer to £3m with add-ons for it to be worth our while.