Graeme Souness will be offered the chance to return to the world of football as he appears set to give up on punditry.
Souness was last directly involved in a football club in a two-year spell as Newcastle manager from 2004 to 2006. Since being sacked by the Magpies, he has worked as a pundit for Sky Sports, but left the broadcaster at the end of the season just gone.
Since then, he has been weighing up his options and embarked on a charity swim across the English Channel. Despite being 70-years-old, Souness is keen to continue working around football, having hinted that his departure from Sky was not as mutual as the broadcaster stated.
Sky had insisted that the parting of ways was a decision made by both sides, with Souness delivering an emotional farewell on his final show. But it appears that it will not be long before Souness is back in the game.
Souness' former club Rangers are hoping to convince him to take on a 'top job' at Ibrox. Initial talks were held between the two parties several weeks ago, with a final round of discussions planned, as first reported by The Sun.
Souness is thought to be willing to return to Glasgow, though only if the post was 'worthwhile and meaningful'. He previously spent five years at Rangers as player-manager from 1986, guiding the Gers to three Scottish Premiership titles and four Scottish League Cups.
The 70-year-old is currently based in Dorset in the south of England, but would look to travel to Scotland on a regular basis if he took on the job. He has previously hinted that he hoped to stay on as a pundit at Sky for at least another year.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Graeme Souness take up Rangers' job offer? Comment below.
“I mean, I was keen to stay another year. They thought it would be a good idea that we called it a day, gave their reasons and I accepted that and have zero complaints about Sky," Souness recently told The Guardian.
"I worked for them maybe 15 years solid – but it’s more like 20 years. They’ve been great for me, gave me the weekends to look forward to, the buzz of live football. But I’m talking to other people and we’ll go again. There’s life in the old dog yet.”
Michael Beale was appointed as Rangers boss in November, but has only taken charge of 51 games in his managerial career. The Englishman will likely be grateful for Souness' experience, with the Rangers chief predicting a busy summer.
"The added responsibility and time off the pitch managing other areas and doing the recruitment has been busy. I’m glad the end of the season is here to be honest because I just have that to focus on," Beale said after Rangers' final game of the season.
"But we’re really in a good place with that and just waiting for one or two things to be signed off. Then we will start to see a new Rangers team come together. Albiet with a team that's got over 90 points this year when we haven’t done that too often in the last 15/20 years.
"I’m looking forward to mending it because that’s the perception and I’m not sure it’s quite true. The team who won the league this year deserved to and they’ve been the outstanding team but our record has been a strong one and I believe [we're] adding to an already good team."
