Report claims Rangers have made move for in-work manager in case Beale’s Ibrox return collapses

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Rangers have made a move for Botafogo boss Luis Castro just in case their move for Michael Beale ends up falling apart for some reason.

The Gers decided to sack Giovanni van Bronckhorst on Monday, ending his time in the Ibrox dugout after just over a year in charge.

Whilst Rangers have been considering their options, they pretty quickly picked out Beale as their top choice.

The Queens Park Rangers boss – who served as an assistant coached to Steven Gerrard at Ibrox – looks set for an Ibrox return.

Rangers would be wise to have other candidates in mind though and they allegedly fancy one manager over in Brazil.

Rangers have made a move for Botafogo boss Luis Castro

Goal Brasil report that Rangers have shown an interest in appointing Botafogo boss Luis Castro as their new manager.

It’s stated that Rangers have moved for Castro, lining him up as a key option if their talks for Beale somehow collapse.

That doesn’t seem likely but Ranger’s interest in Castro is having a knock-on effect.

Flamengo are eyeing up a move of their own for Castro as they consider replacing Dorival Junior, whose contract ends on New Year’s Eve.

Flamengo haven’t been able to advance their move for Castro though with Rangers offering up an alternative for the Botafogo boss.

Castro, 61, had a fairly low-key start to coaching in Portugal’s lower leagues before managing Porto B gave him a chance to take over the first team in 2014.

The Portuguese boss went back to the B team but was then snapped up for spells with Rio Ave, Chaves and Vitoria Guimaraes.

Castro ended up taking charge of Shakhtar Donetsk in 2019, winning a league title whilst claiming 51 wins in 84 games.

A move to Qatar with Al-Duhail followed, losing just three times in 26 games before moving on to Brazil with Botafogo earlier this year.

Castro isn’t quite Pedro Caixinha but he would still be a left-field shout for Rangers and with Beale’s move seemingly imminent, it seems that Castro is more likely to stay in Brazil rather than head to Ibrox.