Championship side Queens Park Rangers have been linked with a shock swoop for Rangers’ Scottish starlet Ryan Hardie in the January transfer window.
Rangers fans have been clamouring for Ryan Hardie to be handed his chance in the first-team for quite some time.
But it appears that there is a real danger that arguably the club’s most exciting young attacker could be on his way out of Ibrox as early as January.
According to the Scottish Sun, Championship side Queens Park Rangers have been impressed by Hardie and watched him in action as he scored for Scotland’s Under-21s against Latvia recently.
It is understood that QPR are attempting to improve their youth ranks and see 20-year-old Hardie as a prime candidate. And while Rangers supporters will be desperate not to see the Glasgow-born forward leave in 2018, there is a nagging feeling that the club would only have themselves to blame.
While the likes of Ross McCrorie (below), Jamie Barjonas and Myles Beerman have been handed chances in the first-team in recent months, Hardie remains on the periphery. He has made just six substitute appearances in 2017/18.
And Rangers have also neglected to tie him down to a long-term deal. As it stands, Hardie’s contract run out in 2018, so the Ibrox giants could find themselves in a situation where they are powerless to prevent the striker leaving next year.
Hardie could not really have done more to earn a chance at Rangers. He starred as Scotland finished third at this summer’s Toulon tournament and has continued to score at an impressive rate for the club’s reserve side, scoring a hat-trick and setting up the other two as Rangers’ edged St Mirren 5-4 just a week ago.
Their loss, however, would be QPR’s gain.
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