Glasgow Rangers manager Michael Beale has given the squad a much-needed overhaul, signing eight players while eight have left the club in what has been the busiest transfer window for the Ibrox side in years.
With just over a month until the window shuts, it appears Beale could be nearly finished with his business, with perhaps another one or two more players to arrive.
Are Rangers interested in Ross Stewart?
According to TEAMtalk, Sunderland are facing a battle to keep their star striker Ross Stewart at the club after news that he has rejected numerous contract offers.
The Scot has entered the final year of his current deal with the Championship side, yet their efforts to secure him down for the next few years haven’t worked out.
Rangers have shown interest due to this development, however they could face competition, with other Championship sides such as Southampton, Stoke City and Middlesbrough all said to be keeping tabs on the 27-year-old ahead of a potential swoop.
What could Ross Stewart offer Rangers?
Having recently signed Danilo from Feyenoord, Beale has padded out his attacking options ahead of the 2023/24 season, also adding Sam Lammers, Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers to his squad.
A move for Stewart may come too soon at the moment, considering he is recovering from a serious injury that he suffered in January, however, Beale should be keeping his eyes on him heading into the new year, especially with his contract running down.
During his spell in the northeast, the 27-year-old has scored 40 goals and grabbed eight assists in just 80 matches, a solid strike rate which suggests he could offer the Gers plenty of goals.
The £2.3k-per-week striker was even lauded as being an “absolute menace” by writer Phillip West back in 2021 and should he make the move to the Light Blues, Beale could form a dream duo with him and Ianis Hagi.
The Romanian has had to get over his own injury issues, missing nearly a year of action following his knee injury during a Scottish Cup tie in January 2022, and he showed flickers of his talents during the end of last term.
Despite making only three Premiership starts and averaging 34 minutes per game, Hagi scored once, succeeded with 86% of his dribble attempts and won 1.9 duels per game – a success rate of 56% – suggesting that if given more game time next season, he could further demonstrate his creative talents.
During the title-winning 2020/21 season, the 24-year-old created five big chances and averaged one key pass per game, playing an integral part in their success.
With Stewart ahead of him, Hagi could generate plenty of scoring opportunities for the Scottish hitman and given he enjoyed a goal conversion rate of 22% last season, he would stick away quite a few chances.
Despite his injury ruling him out of the second half of the season, Stewart ranked as Sunderland’s best performer via his overall Sofascore rating (7.4), while ranking first for scoring frequency (goal every 104 minutes) and shots on target per game (1.6), indicating he is a true penalty box striker.
With Hagi returning to full fitness, Beale will have plenty of selection headaches, but a future duo of him and Stewart would certainly cause chaos for defenders.
