Daily Record left red faced over cut price Ibrox exit

It looks like Phil Clement’s transfer war-chest will be down £4m despite the upbeat coverage from the Daily Record.

Since he sat down with reporters in Holland to explain that he had to sell before he could buy the pressure has been on A Proper Football Manager.

His bosses at Ibrox were far from happy with that news being made public with the Record prompted into full spin mode to raise funds and morale among concerned bears.

Over £4m apparently came in with fees for Sam Lammers and Connor Goldson, the reality is that two of the highest earners were probably encouraged by pay offs to take their talents elsewhere.

At the weekend the Record was anticipating a combined £7m for Ianis Hagi and Todd Cantwell, in the real world Hagi will probably leave on loan with no club prepared to stick the self obsessed TikTok into their dressing room.

One of the craziest claims is over Jose Cifuentes, another player that Micky Beale looked in the eye before handing a five year contract to at outrageous wage level of £1m a year.

Last night respected Italian reporter Cesar Luis Merlo set the Record straight over that moonbeam deal.

TRANSLATION:

José Cifuentes will play for Aris Thessaloniki in Greece. After terminating his contract with Cruzeiro, he arrives on loan from Rangers until June 2025 with an option to buy for € 2.4m.

Merlo has 377,000 Twitter followers, Record Sport has over 300,000 less.

At 9.20 on Monday August 12 the Record reported:

Ibrox flop Jose Cifuentes has been pictured touching down in Greece ahead of his move to Aris Thessaloniki. The transfer has been in the offing for some time but the report states that paperwork issues relating to his previous loan spell to Brazilian side Cruzeiro has been the reason for the delay. But he will undergo a medical before completing the transfer.

The Ecuadorian’s move is an initial loan but it is claimed that Rangers will cover “part of his contract” at Ibrox which is said to be in the region of £1million a year. However, the Greeks have an obligation to buy the 25-year-old who was signed from American side LAFC last summer by Michael Beale and the fee is reported to be around £4m.

It seems like the Record were checking for reports that would help to comfort their Army of Readers rather than deal in reality.

Cifuentes was a £1m signing by Micky Beale last summer then ditched by A Proper Football Manager who sent him out on loan to Brazil with Cruzeiro cutting that deal short.

With wages of £1m a year there will barely be any clubs in Greece matching that level of salary let alone paying any transfer fee never mind sticking £3m profit into the Ibrox bank account.

Any figure can be put in a loan deal with an option to buy, after failing at his last two clubs it is almost certain that ARIS Salonica will have an option to return Cifuentes to Ibrox in January, no doubt accompanied by the usual spin from the Record.