Rangers will attempt to sign Saido Berahino from West Brom in the summer, according to the Scottish Sun. The striker's contract expires in the summer and Mark Warburton plans to make his move to convince the striker to leave on a free and head up to Ibrox.
The rumour had been suggested for a while, but it's now been stood up by the media, and from a source that's usually pretty accurate when it comes to Rangers. They've broken quite a few major stories coming out of Ibrox first this season and last.
Of course, just because Rangers will attempt to land Berahino doesn't mean they'll succeed - everybody's well aware that it's a long shot. But it's not as impossible as it might seem at first. Berahino, after all, has just rejected a 60k a week offer from West Brom - so why would he come to Rangers if we can't get anywhere near that figure?
Quite simply, he'd not exactly be coming for the long haul. You just need to take a look at Moussa Dembele (another player who, like Berahino, was linked to a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur) to see how heading to Glasgow can actually be more lucrative.
Rangers' immediate advantage comes from the fact that as a foreign club, we'd only have to pay around £500k to complete the deal. Any English clubs would have to stump up far more, probably around £8m, which is a risk for a player who has fallen out with his current club and hasn't played much football recently.
As for the wages, Berahino is currently on 20k a week. Rangers can certainly match that at least, and if he comes up to Scotland and does well, he'll soon be attracting serious money offers from down south - particularly as he's already proved himself capable of scoring in the Premier League. If Rangers were to offer him a portion of future transfer profit - as Celtic have likely done with Dembele - then it's probably more lucrative for him to come to Rangers for a short period than move to a Championship or lower-level Premier League club.
Berahino gets a big move and a chunk of money, and Rangers get an excellent player for a period of time and a good profit to reinvest in the squad. It's far from a certainty to happen, but the situation doesn't mean Rangers will find it impossible to compete for his signature. It'll certainly be interesting to see how it develops.
Loading comments...