Rangers are reportedly in talks to sign Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe.
Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson has explained in his Daily Record column that Jermain Defoe will be tempted by a move to Ibrox because winning silverware outweighs any kind of pay cheque.
The Daily Record claim Rangers have opened “preliminary talks” to sign 35-year-old Defoe, despite reports suggesting he is earning a huge £80,000 a week with Eddie Howe’s Premier League side.
Defoe is just one of a number of ambitious targets to have been linked with a move to Rangers, with Liverpool’s Dom Solanke and Steven Gerrard’s former Liverpool teammates Martin Skrtel and Lucas Leiva all linked.
Rangers are in no position to afford anything close to Defoe’s wage packet, but Ferguson reckons the chance of silverware and working under Gerrard is enough temptation for the likes of Defoe to move to Ibrox on much smaller terms.
“There’s something my old club can offer that no amount of money can buy,” Ferguson said. “Trust me on this, there is no way to put a price on what it feels like to lift a trophy and have a medal hung around your neck.
“I know hundreds of former pros who have had great careers and earned stacks of cash but who never had the chance to savour that feeling. When they’ve hung up their boots, the vast majority of them would happily give up some of their fortunes just to know one time what it is like.
“So I look at Defoe and wonder what he would give for the chance to lift silverware? For these guys, who have been earning massive wages for so many years, money is surely no longer an issue.”
Defoe has cut a frustrated figure at the Vitality Stadium this season since joining the Cherries from Sunderland last summer, making just 24 Premier League appearances. He scored only four goals, but 13 of his outings were from the bench.
He has two years remaining on the three-year deal he signed last summer, so a move by Rangers would also require a transfer fee. But with the 57-time England international now 35, a fee would prove nominal.
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