Should Rangers make David Bates loan bid if Hamburg stay up?

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Glasgow Rangers defender David Bates is set to leave Ibrox at the end of the season.

If Steven Gerrard has learned anything from Rangers’ last two games, it is perhaps how much of a blow it will be that he will not have David Bates to work with when he takes over at Ibrox in the summer.

Bates’ contract with the Gers expires at the end of the season and he confirmed while he was out injured that he has agreed a pre-contract deal with Hamburg.

While the three points were extremely welcome, the 1-0 win over Kilmarnock somewhat rubbed salt into Rangers’ wounds as Bates was the man to score the winning goal in the dying minutes, while his performance at the back provided another reminder as to why he has to be considered the Gers’ best centre-back this term.

It is a huge disappointment that Bates is leaving. But with Russell Martin only on loan, and the likes of Bruno Alves and Fabio Cardoso struggling for form throughout the campaign, perhaps Rangers would be wise to keep an eye on Hamburg’s fortunes on the final day of the Bundesliga season.

As things stand, Hamburg will be playing in the second tier next term, but they could still have a chance of pulling off a stunning escape if they manage to beat Borussia Monchengladbach and Cologne do them a favour by winning against Wolfsburg.

If those two results happen, Hamburg will move up one place and face a relegation play-off, and given that they survived after facing a play-off in 2014 and 2015, it may not be a surprise if they manage to drag themselves away from danger once again.

And should they manage to keep themselves up, Rangers should perhaps consider asking to keep Bates for a season-long loan as it could be in everyone’s best interests.

The 21-year-old is surely more likely to feature regularly for the Gers than he is for his new club if they manage to keep themselves in the top flight, and Hamburg should see – if his chances of regular football are slim next term – that returning to Ibrox for another year could be a great move for his development.

It does seem incredibly unlikely, but Rangers should certainly ask about keeping Bates on loan for another year as they already had a lot of work to do on their defensive options over the summer, and loaning the former Raith ace back could make life easier for Gerrard with a major overhaul of the squad surely required.