Soccer Football - Europa League - Round of 16 - First Leg - Benfica v Rangers - Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal - March 7, 2024 Rangers manager Philippe Clement reacts REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
Phil Clement’s plans of a summer rebuild have received a serious set-back with Connor Goldson back in the UK after failing to agree terms over a move to ARIS Limassol.
The defender flew out to Cyrus on Sunday for signing talks but was pictured with his old team-mates today at Glasgow Airport taking a flight to Birmingham for tomorrow’s friendly.
It is yet another farcical scene in a pre-season that has gone from bad to worse for fans expecting a full on Revolution.
Clement is keen to get rid of Goldson, the player is prepared to go to the Cypriot League to end his Ibrox misery but unless the terms are right he will be sticking around to drain two more seasons out of the Ibrox Tribute Act.
The Sun reports:
CONNOR GOLDSON is part of the Rangers squad for tomorrow night’s friendly clash with Birmingham City.
The defender jetted to Cyprus at the weekend for signing talks with Aris Limassol.
But it’s understood those discussions have been put on hold with Goldson flying back to the UK to rejoin his Ibrox team-mates.
An image was being circulated on social media this afternoon showing Goldson stepping onto the Gers flight bound for the Midlands.
And SunSport can confirm that the 31-year-old IS part of the squad Philippe Clement has named for the tribute match in honour of the late Trevor Francis.
It’s believed Aris are still working on a deal for the centre-back but as things stand NO agreement has been reached – with other interested clubs waiting in the wings to pounce should negotiations collapse.
ARIS, with average crowds of 6,000 fans in a shared stadium seemed an unlikely escape route for the former Shrewsbury starlet who is believed to be earning close to £40,000 a week after running down his contract at the end of the 21/22 season.
After failing to attract any bids for the serial losers that the manager is desperate to get rid of it appears that the players agents have been given the green light to go out and see if there is any takers for their clients.
Unless the wages are better the players will stay where they are as Clement is discovering.
It looks like Connor Barron and Jefte will be the only new faces included in the squad for the Champions League Third Round qualifier with the bulk of the squad unwanted by A Proper Football Manager- or anyone else in football.
That’s the problem with believing in Fairy Tales. The generally tend not to come true!
We have a proper football manager as well, just not a proper board.
Sadly there seem to be similarities here with ourselves. A squad bloated with overpaid projects that the manager clearly has no faith in, that are not in his plans, that he didn’t want to begin with, but that he can’t now punt. FFS, even James McCarthy will still be there next season draining a considerable wage.
Financially, we are better placed to bring a few decent quality players in and the board is certainly being complacent, seeing last year’s success as a sign that nothing needs fixing, rather than the club “getting away with one”, which we all know was the reality of it.
However, getting rid of some of the deadwood might help to strengthen BR’s position with regard to getting the board to spend some decent money, finally, on some quality players.
While he’s there, he can maybe point out that players tend to be unavailable at any time of year, when you continually offer ridiculously low bids that no one is ever going to accept, instead of ponying up the money to make a prudent, but realistic, offer that reflects a fair valuation of the player. While I think we can aim even higher with the funds we have in the bank (and no harm to them), the likes of Idah and Bernardo could have been on the plane to the States – with maybe a Miovski in there too – had it not been for the same penny-pinching that has seen us lose out on players like John McGinn and, going back further, Steven Fletcher, in the past.