After a week of glorious upbeat coverage the first sign of negativity has emerged from Ibrox since the appointment of Micky Beale as manager.
An exciting new form of football has been promised under the ground-breaking coach, backed up by video clips from training video clips Ryan Kent scoring from an open goal and Alex Lowry treating James Tavernier like a third rate utility man.
Talks of a transfer war-chest for January were killed off by Ross Wilson’s media conference on Thursday with the push now on to reduce the wage bill and bring in any sort of transfer fees.
In peak moonbeams two years ago Glen Kamara was a transfer target for Juventus, over the last year the Finnish ace has slipped behind John Lundstram, Ryan Jack, Steve Davis and Scott Arfield for a place in the Starting XI.
Covering the thoughts of his former international boss, Mixu Paatelainen, the Daily Record reports:
Glen Kamara was bought for a bargain. At £50,000 you don’t get much more of a snip than the cut-price fee it cost Steven Gerrard when he pinched the former Dundee ace from Dens Park.
But now four years on, Mixu Paatelainen reckons Rangers risk losing a fortune if Gerrard’s old sidekick Mick Beale fails to find a way to maximise the value of one of his few sellable Ibrox assets.
With nine players heading out of contract in the summer, the 27-year-old – who is tied to the Glasgow giants until 2025 – is among a small clutch of top-team stars nailed down on a long-term deal who could currently expect to fetch a decent fee.
The Finn has previously been linked with £10million moves to England and Europe but Paatelainen – the man who handed the Ibrox ace his first international call-up – fears Gers would struggle to command top dollar now. Kamara’s price tag has dwindled in recent months having been cast aside by former boss Gio van Bronckhorst.
He made his first league start since September against St Mirren just before the World Cup break – a match that proved to be GVB’s final game in charge – but faced the indignity of being hooked at half-time after another meek performance.
It was a far cry from the classy displays Kamara regularly put in when Beale was last at the club, with the former Arsenal kid a central figure as Gers romped to an undefeated Premiership triumph.
But if the new Ibrox gaffer can’t get the midfielder firing again, Paatelainen has told Gers they can forget about landing a repeat of the windfalls when they sold Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey last summer.
The former Hibs, Killie and Dundee United boss told Record Sport: “Rangers signed Glen for a bargain and would have hoped to sell him on for a big profit. But if he’s not playing they won’t be able to reach the kind of sums that was once talked about for him.
“That’s always the case. You can only get a good transfer fee if he plays regularly. We’ll see how things go but I don’t think Glen is desperate to leave Rangers right now.
“However, he will consider leaving if he’s not getting the minutes he wants. Everything changed when Steven Gerrard left. Gio did use him a lot in the Europa League last season and he played really well.
“But Glen has always been regarded as a midfielder who keeps possession and maybe his lack of forward passing, penetrating passes, was why he didn’t play so much at other times.”
A loan move looks likely for Kamara in January or a transfer for £3-4m with ‘significant, attainable’ add-ons spun to the gullible.
? Gerrard on Glen Kamara:
“We haven’t heard anything from Juventus but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were top clubs looking at Glen.
“He was outstanding, lovely to watch. Being a midfielder myself I really admire his bodywork and his shape, the way he receives the ball”. pic.twitter.com/cNM4zI0AZf
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) December 1, 2019
Juventus taking their time to clinch the services of the in-demand Glen Kamara here pic.twitter.com/Q8n07q8XTK
— T H E ~ S H A M R O C K ?? (@TheShamrock1888) November 12, 2022
Yep , it’s try and punt Glen time again
Cue every hun message boy media monkey gushing over him for the next few weeks
and the Daily Record wheeling out more coaches who worked with him and ex players like the former Rangers ‘ Ace ‘ Greg Stewart who played with him
I imagine most will just be hoping they kept the receipt for him, as I doubt any offers they do get for him would do much more than match the £50k they paid for him.