With the news that Joe Aribo might not have any interest in extending his Rangers contract, there is a very real threat that there will soon be a mass exodus from the current squad.
Now, this isn’t suggesting that there is going to be a fire sale, however, when we look at the squad on paper, there is every chance that we could see a big turn around in the next 12 months.
Steven Davis, Jermain Defoe and Allan McGregor are way beyond the veteran stage and Scott Arfield will be 34 next season, the latter might get another year at the club if he maintains his current form but he surely can’t sustain it for another season given his high energy style of play.
Leon Balogun will probably have his deal renewed for next season but, like Arfield, will be approaching his mid-30s and his injury prone body is unlikely to get more resilient with age.
Then, when you look at player contracts, we have Ryan Kent, Filip Helander, Ryan Jack, Alfredo Morelos and Aribo all coming up to the last 18-months of their deals, one way or another they have to either be sold or sign on and that’s not including Connor Goldson who could be gone by the summer.
Add in how good players like Ianis Hagi and Glen Kamara are and the interest they will likely attract and we have the best part of a full team that could be needing replaced between now and the summer of 2023 – the whole point of a player trading model is that valuable assets are sold when they are at their most valuable and many of the names are either at or approaching that stage of their careers.
Ross Wilson, over to you.
Great! It will provide opportunities to bring on young Scottish talent. Which, BTW, is what we should have been doing during the wilderness years.
Gerrard built a competent squad but it was primarily to stop the 10…once that was done this team was done ..Roy Keane said theRangers wouldn’t win a second title…he looks spot on..