Rangers face a huge decision over the next two transfer windows, whether or not to stick or twist with their biggest assets and what they deem as acceptable offers.
An article in The Athletic has looked at almost every player in the squad and what their potential value is, going as far as to interview a sports consultancy group to get a clearer picture of what to expect.
Speaking to Jordan Campbell of The Athletic, Omar Chaudhuri of Twenty First Group said:
“Generally clubs in the big five leagues tend to buy players as they are hitting their peak years.
“It helps ensure that the risk of how the player will develop is minimised — as, by that stage, you’ll have a good sense of their potential — but also means you’ll get a lot of their best years. So the average age of a big-five league signing is 24 years old, with, by extension, roughly 50 per cent of players being signed under the age of 24.”
The worrying thing, as Campbell goes on to explain is that our key assets are now at this peak range; Joe Aribo, Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos, all potentially on the down slope in terms of what, realistically, their value is.
Of course, a player is only worth what a club is willing to pay and what another is willing to accept, however, the other “problem” is that these players are also at a pivotal moment in terms of their contract status with most of them approaching or in the last two years, extending their deals is now hugely important.
The clubs that we would likely sell to would be the ones that Chaudhuri is speaking about, a big-five league the most likely destination for the players that have already been mentioned.
I’m a great believer in trusting subject matter experts, and in this case, that’s exactly what Chaudhuri is, we – as a support – have to temper our expectations in terms of what we can expect to receive for our best players – in Ross Wilson though, we have a Premier League sporting director, let’s just hope he can get Premier League prices.