Speculation has mounted that Rangers might be signing a new central defender.
According to TuttoMercatoWEB., Rangers are interested in bringing James Sands to Ibrox.
The 21-year-old United States international has been impressing with New York City FC over in Major League Soccer.
And it seems like Giovanni van Bronckhorst in Glasgow is an admirer of the young powerhouse.
If it materialises then you can pretty much guarantee that a certain Nikola Katic is finished at Rangers.
Forgotten
The 25-year-old is very much a forgotten man in Scottish football.
Katic hasn’t kicked a ball for the Gers in a Premiership outing since March of 2020, when the pandemic struck.
This season, he’s on loan back in his native Croatia with Hajduk Split.
But if Sands joins Rangers then that’s him, Connor Goldson, Calvin Bassey, Filip Helander and Leon Balogun as central-defensive options.
Even without the MLS prospect coming to Scotland, Katic’s Rangers career certainly looks to be hanging by a thread.
But bringing in the youngster would effectively confirm that Van Bronckhorst has no plan to keep the big Croat at Auchenhowie.
Katic, a £2 million signing in 2018, absolutely has his uses, and Steven Gerrard did favour him for a chunk of his time in Glasgow.
But Sands coming in would ensure that he’s completely done.
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