Rangers hope to have Pedro Caixinha confirmed as their new manager in the next 48 hours.
Pedro Caixinha
According to The Scottish Sun, Rangers hope to appoint Pedro Caixinha in the next 48 hours – but their fight with Al-Gharafa continues.
The Gers saw manager Mark Warburton leave the club in acrimonious circumstances last month, and have been spending the last few weeks searching for a new boss.
Interim boss Graeme Murty has won three and lost two of his five games in charge, and whilst he led Rangers to a 6-0 Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Hamilton Academical on Saturday, he doesn’t appear to be in line for the job on a full-time basis given his lack of managerial experience.
A host of managers have been linked with the post, but the favourite with bookmakers in recent days has been Al-Gharafa manager Pedro Caixinha – a relative unknown to many fans.
Now, The Scottish Sun report that Rangers were locked in talks with the Qatari side over the weekend in a bid to thrash out a deal, with the fight for Caixinha’s services still ongoing.
General view outside Ibrox
Despite the report claiming that Al-Gharafa are making a last-ditch attempt to tie Caixinha down to a new contract worth in excess of £2.5million a year, the Portuguese boss allegedly wants a return to Europe – and Rangers hope to have him appointed in the next 48 hours.
Caixinha, 46, had a lengthy spell as assistant manager to Jose Peseiro across spells with a number of clubs, and has managed the likes of Uniao Leiria, Nacional, Santos Laguna and now Al-Gharafa.
Despite being far from a household name, Caixinha – a former Celtic scout – is clearly the top target for the Rangers board, and having worked around the clock over the weekend to tie up a deal, they will be hoping to have Caixinha in the dugout for this weekend’s Old Firm clash against Celtic.
Would you be happy to see Caixinha take charge at Ibrox?
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