Not that I need to remind you but, other than extending a few contracts and John Souttar arriving on a pre-contract agreement, Rangers have yet to do any business for the first-team so far this summer, despite the numerous rumours and players being linked.
One such player is Sunderland’s Ross Stewart who has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Cedric Itten on a few occasions, the seemingly imminent deal for Antonio Colak had looked to kill off that story but apparently not with further reports emerging only this week.
Speaking to Football Insider, former Gers right-back Alan Hutton has backed the now Scotland international to be a solid acquisition, if a move is made:
“I do like him as a player. I think he knows the Scottish level inside and out, he came through the ranks and then went down south and he’s done really well.
“He scored 26 goals last season and one was in the semi-final and the other in the final of the play-offs. So he knows what big games are all about.
“He’s that style of player that Rangers don’t have – tall number nines. He’s good with his feet, he wants balls into the box which Rangers, from wide areas, are very good with and I think he could feed off that.
“So he’s another type of player that could add something different. Whether he wants to stay at Sunderland in the Championship, if he sees that as a better option.
“I think coming to Rangers, you’ve got the chance of European football that could be a draw. So it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out but again I think he could be a good signing if he does decide to leave.”
Before the link to Colak came about, this was a transfer that mad a lot of sense. Stewart wouldn’t have been signed as first choice but as a back-up or rotational option for Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe and his goal scoring record suggests that he would have been a decent option.
The biggest, and most obvious issue, is that English clubs are well known for demanding vastly inflated transfer fees and there is no chance that we would have been able to pick Stewart up for the £1.8million that it looks like we are getting Croatian international Colak for, a player with Champions League experience, even if he does just have a year left on his current deal.
Hutton is right in that I think he would have been a useful addition, it’s just not a move I can see happening anytime soon.