Glasgow Rangers Chasing Down Stoke Striker James Beattie
Rangers bid to sign striker James Beattie from Stoke City gathers pace as the player visited Ibrox today.
James Beattie has held talks with Rangers over a proposed move from Stoke City. The striker is the subject of a transfer bid from the Ibrox club and Rangers manager Walter Smith is hoping to tie up a deal within the next 48 hours.
Smith revealed that moves were underway to sign both Beattie and Portsmouth forward Tommy Smith, with a bid for Rapid Vienna’s Nikica Jelavic hanging in the balance. Smith said he hoped to have at least two new signings in place before the SPL campaign begins on Saturday and that likelihood increased after Beattie travelled to Glasgow for talks.
The striker, valued at £1.5 million, is out of favour at the Britannia Stadium and Stoke are keen to remove him from the wage bill. After a reported fall-out with manager Tony Pulis, and following the club’s signing of Kenwyne Jones, Beattie is aware that he does not have a future at Stoke.
Rangers have now offered the player the chance of not only first team football but also the chance to play in the Champions League. Though the player has now held talks over a switch to the SPL, it is not known if Stoke and Rangers have settled no a transfer fee.
"We are currently in negotiation with both Stoke and Portsmouth with regard to the signing of James Beattie and Tommy Smith. Just where we are exactly is always difficult to say but discussions are taking place," Walter Smith said on Thursday morning. "Hopefully we can manage to conclude both deals.
"We are still progressing the move to sign Nikica Jelavic but I must admit the longer it goes the more doubtful I become over whether it will happen. There have been more complications in that one than we imagined. A lot of these things don't go smoothly and this one certainly hasn't but we haven't given up on that one.
"It's been frustrating because these dealings have been on-going for about three weeks now but hopefully we can clear things up in the next day or two.
"We hope Beattie and Smith would be tied up for Saturday."
