Rangers fan Oliver McBurnie was linked with a move to Ibrox in 2018.
Rangers fans know all about Oliver McBurnie’s love for the club – and it seems that he was on Steven Gerrard’s radar in the summer of 2018.
McBurnie may have been born in Leeds and spent his domestic career in English football, but he absolutely loves Rangers due to his father.
The striker’s dad is a huge Rangers fan, and McBurnie has followed suit, often tweeting about his love for the club, whilst he has also chosen to play for Scotland in recent years.
In the summer of 2018, it looked like McBurnie may have been able to make his dream move to Ibrox. After impressing on loan at Barnsley with nine goals in 17 games, Rangers were allegedly keen.
The Sun reported in May 2018 that Steven Gerrard wanted McBurnie as his first signing, and had offered Swansea City £4million for the striker – but he ended up signing a new deal with the Swans.
A year on, McBurnie made a huge £20million move to Sheffield United having hit 22 Championship goals last season, and he looks to be well out of Rangers’ range for the foreseeable future.
Still, McBurnie has now admitted to Open Goal that he actually met Gerrard and Gary McAllister in 2018, with his agent arranging a meeting between them in Dubai.
McBurnie was comically hungover for this meeting, which may just have put Rangers off, but McBurnie told his agent he wanted to join the Gers and play for Gerrard before eventually committing his future to Swansea; maybe one day, McBurnie will get his move to Ibrox.
“I met Stevie G and Gary Mac in Dubai the summer that they got the job,” said McBurnie. “I was out in Dubai with Greegsy [Allan McGregor]. Me and Greegsy had been having an all-dayer. I got a phone call from my agent, this must be the year when I just got back from Barnsley and before I signed my new deal at Swansea. My agent rang me and said Gerrard is in the hotel around the corner from you and wants to have a chat with you. Nothing too stressful, just casual.”
“I am on an all-dayer with Greegsy and the next morning I’ve woke up and went ‘I need to go to that hotel and meet Gerrard’. I’ve gone and I am hanging out my arse. I am waiting in reception for Gerrard’s receptionist to come down and just before she has come down I’ve had to run to the toilet and throw up. Just as I have walked back from the toilet his assistant is waiting for me in reception saying ‘I can go to the room now’. I’ve got puke all around my nose and all that.”
“When I walked out that room I rang my agent and said ‘I want to play for him. It’s Stevie G, it’s Rangers’. Things happen. You know what football is like mate, and I ended up signing a new deal at Swansea and ever since then it’s been a bit financially out of the question,” he added.
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