Rangers are reportedly set to bring Jake Hastie to Ibrox.
Rangers have already secured one winger on a pre-contract agreement in Jordan Jones, but another could be putting pen-to-paper in the coming days.
The Gers are looking to challenge Celtic without breaking the bank, and signing promising players at the end of their contracts has to be a key approach – one which Steven Gerrard’s men are embracing.
After landing Jones in January, Rangers are set to bring in Motherwell’s Jake Hastie too, with STV reporting that his pre-contract agreement should be confirmed later this week.
Hastie, 20, spent the first half of the campaign out on loan at Alloa Athletic, but then returned to Motherwell and hasn’t looked back since, smashing seven goals in 14 games.
Rangers have now moved quickly to swoop in and sign Hastie, with his contract at Fir Park expiring this summer, adding a dangerous wide man to Gerrard’s ranks.
Hastie’s power and blistering pace have earned rave reviews, but his imminent move to Ibrox has seemingly surprised former Airdrie man Marc Fitzpatrick.
Hastie spent the 2017-18 season on loan at Airdrie, where Fitzpatrick was coaching, and he has admitted to the Glasgow Evening Times that he wasn’t thinking Hastie was Rangers material when he was working with him.
Fitzpatrick did praise Hastie for working hard and getting inconsistencies out of his game whilst getting stronger, showing just what can happen with the right application – but really didn’t expect Hastie to be moving to Rangers so soon after his Airdrie spell.
“It’s not as if he came down and he was an absolute stand-out for us and was miles better than everybody else. He was good, but you weren’t thinking ‘this boy is Rangers material’. If you put that effort in and break into a first-team, you just don’t know what can happen,” said Fitzpatrick. “He was quite inconsistent with us, but he did have flashes of brilliance at times and his pace made him stand out in games. There were times when it wasn’t quite happening for him, but I suppose that’s why Motherwell sent him down on loan, to get that inconsistency out of his game.”
“His pace was a stand-out for our level. He would just give people five yards and then burn past them. For a young guy, he didn’t look like a young player coming down to play in the first-team, he was physically well about himself even then. He has improved on that as well, he looks quite broad and quite strong, so he’s obviously been working hard on that. If you were to say at the time that a year later he would be on the verge of a move to Rangers though, I don’t think anyone would have expected that,” he added.
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