Barry Ferguson has opened up on Rangers' transfer plans and reckons Michael Beale will make a 'few surprises'.
The Light Blues boss faces a big summer ahead of his first full season in charge at Ibrox. He has started the process of putting his stamp on the team by bringing in Todd Cantwell from Norwich City and Nicolas Raskin from Standard Liege with a busy summer to come. A number of top team stars are out of contract with the club legend adamant keeping Allan McGregor is a 'no-brainer' while he reckons signing up Malik Tillman permanently could see Rangers double or treble their investment in 12-18 months.
The likes of Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Jack and Steven Davis are all out of contract in the summer while a number of fringe players could also move on as part of the overhaul. James Sands has already left to return to New York City after having his 18-month loan deal cut short.
He told Go Radio: “There’s nine or 10 players out of contract. Allan McGregor for me is a no-brainer. That takes away the worry of trying to get a top class goalkeeper.
“I’d sign Malik Tillman because I think Rangers want to be the type of club, who go and sign then make a profit on a player. He’s only 20 - I don’t know what the transfer fee is, €4million, €5million. For me, I’ve seen enough. If he keeps continuing his development, in another season or 18 months, he could be doubling on trebling that transfer fee.
“Michael Beale made a comment a couple of months ago that he wasn’t bringing fillers in, he was bringing starters in. Obviously he never played Raskin and Cantwell on Sunday. Raskin was the biggest surprise for me but he obviously felt they never had enough game-time in their legs. Raskin had played two 90 minutes in the space if a couple of weeks.
“But I do think the guys he's going to go and target are guys who are ready to come in and play in the starting XI. You can’t waste money or spend for the sake of it, saying, ‘I’m going to bring in this player and I’m not going to play him’.
“The money Rangers spend has to be spent wisely and it has to be on starters. I think there will be a few surprises. With the number of players who are out of contract where you would maybe think they’d keep the experienced ones.”
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