The countdown is on until a blockbuster derby day in Glasgow - but behind the scenes, transfer business is ramping up. It's set to be a busy one at Celtic where Brendan Rodgers has made it clear he wants to freshen things up - what could that mean for fringe men at Parkhead after the title win?
The countdown is officially on as we enter May, and it's set to be a dramatic one for Rangers. Virtually everyone is up for sale, and the new manager has one hell of an in-tray to work through on day one. In the capital, understand Hibs are keen on bringing former Ross County winger Regan Charles-Cook back to Scotland.
Hearts are also on the lookout for a new boss after giving Neil Critchley the boot, and Robbie Neilson looks a firm favorite for the role. It's a big one for Aberdeen too, where Jimmy Thelin is set to be backed in his second summer at the club. Meanwhile, Jim Goodwin is hoping Wrexham's promotion to the Championship can help him keep hold of Sam Dalby.
Lamine Yamal is one of the most coveted stars in Europe after starring for Barcelona against Inter in last night's thrilling Champions League clash. Can anyone afford him this summer?! Meanwhile, at Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold is the big story, but will Jeremie Frimpong be his replacement? Join us for all the transfer madness as silly season officially clicks into gear.
Tobi Oluwayemi has told Celtic he is coming back a better player after his time at Dunfermline. The Pars’ No. 1 will call time on his time at East End Park following the conclusion of the Championship relegation scrap. The 21-year-old told The Courier: "I think I’m going back now more mature, a bit older, more experienced, so definitely a better player for it. That’s always the main goal when you go on loan. Not only to prove to yourself, but also to prove to your parent club that you’re improving, that you’re learning and that you’ve come back a better player than you left."
Morton has confirmed they are working with FIFA after being slapped with a "temporary registration ban." The Cappirlow club put it down to an "administration error" and insists that their summer plans will not be affected, given the window doesn't open until June. The club can confirm they are currently working with football’s governing body, FIFA, to resolve an administration error leading to a temporary registration ban placed on the club.
Following the club’s requests earlier in the year to obtain the access required from FIFA to submit information as part of our compliance, the club did not receive the access required to complete the relevant process and subsequently have been issued with the ban as the documentation was then not submitted on time. Over the last number of weeks, the club has been in close dialogue with FIFA counterparts and have been given clarity that the issue is to be resolved by mid-May after giving us access to submit the required documentation and a clear timescale of the time required to approve the documents. This does not impinge on plans for the summer transfer window as new players cannot be registered until June, when the next transfer window opens. This also does not impinge on our ability to renew contracts of players already at the club, whose contracts expire this summer.
Birmingham City is looking into the possibility of signing Rangers outcast Kieran Dowell on a permanent basis. The midfielder is currently on loan at St Andrews and has played a big part in them winning promotion back to the Championship. Birmingham manager Chris Davies also knows the former Everton man has a tried and trusted pedigree in England’s second tier. The 27-year-old swapped Ibrox for the other Blues in January and has been key in their surge to become League One champions.
Dowell still has another year left on his Rangers’ contract but has struggled to make the impact he had hoped north of the border. If Birmingham could come up with a financial package that is suitable to Rangers and him personally, then a deal is likely to happen. Rangers signed Dowell on a pre-contract from Norwich City back in 2023, but he failed to nail down a regular slot and has played under Michael Beale, Philippe Clement, and now Barry Ferguson. The Ibrox side are also unlikely to stand in Dowell’s way as they look to free up budget for the incoming Rangers boss.
Fellow Ibrox teammate and defender Ben Davies is also on loan from Rangers. Kyle McClelland is set to leave Hibs at the end of the season. The defender is currently out on a successful loan at Irish side Coleraine. The 23-year-old is out-of-contract in the summer and is already attracting interest from the Scottish Championship. McClelland moved to Easter Road back in 2022 from Rangers. He was viewed as one for the future but has spent most of his time at Hibs on loan with spells at Cove Rangers and Queen of the South.
Promotion-winning Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has lifted the lid on talks with chairman Paraag Marathe just hours after his whistle-stop tour of Ibrox with the Rangers takeover looming. The investment wing of the San Francisco 49ers - of which Elland Road chief Marathe is President - saw the red carpet rolled out for them on Tuesday alongside Andrew Cavenagh. It comes as they close in on control at Rangers following on from steering Leeds back to the English Premier League.
Despite masterminding a return to the top flight, Farke is facing scrutiny over his position as boss. Reports suggest that having led Norwich City to relegation from the Premier League promise land on two occasions, he could be shown the door by 49ers Enterprises. It has also been claimed that there are tensions behind the scenes in Yorkshire over the transfer strategy that is set to be put in place this summer. But the boss has attempted to drown out the noise - insisting that he held talks with Marathe over big plans for the future on Tuesday night.
Bobby Wales has agreed to a bumper four-year contract with Swansea City. The Kilmarnock striker is scheduled to travel to Wales for his medical next week. If that goes ahead, then the English Championship club will sign him in a cross-border deal of around £300,000 in the summer. Swansea wrote to Killie to inform them of their interest and then followed that up with further correspondence that they had agreed terms, before the news was leaked.
The Scotland under-19 had six other options in Scotland, England, where Preston were in the hunt, and overseas but decided on the Swans. He has been impressed with their plans to return to the Premiership and has also seen Luka Modric invest in them. Manager Alan Sheehan also made a big pitch for Wales, showing he will become an immediate first-team member. They have also seen him get a substantial wage rise on what he was offered at Kilmarnock.
It is a blow to Derek McInnes, but he or Killie were never going to compete with the financial and playing opportunities that were on the table. The Scotland under-19 cap had come through the Rugby Park academy. Scotland No.2 John Carver is facing his club being kicked out of Polish football at the end of the season after Lechia Gdansk were refused a licence to play next term.
Steve Clarke's assistant manager is also boss of Lechia, who are facing a huge battle to avoid being relegated. But even if they escape on the pitch, they look like they will be sunk off it after the Polish FA this week refused them a licence for next season because of a host of financial irregularities, including late payments to players and staff.
But the veteran ex-Newcastle United coach insists he is only concentrating on matters on the pitch. "I have been in football for 40 years and I have seen it all," he said. "I have no influence on this. I do what I have to do in this difficult situation. I love football and I focus on it. Many clubs - not only Lechia - have financial problems at various points in their existence. It was like this in the past, it will be like this in the future. Lechia is not the only one. The lack of a license is being dealt with by people at the top. I am focused on football. Sometimes, in difficult moments, football can be a diversion from other problems. Our goal is unchanging - to stay in the Ekstraklasa."
The club president hopes that the license will be granted on appeal. Talking to him calmed me down. We also told the players and the staff honestly what was going on. Honesty is key here. I don't want to speculate on my future. We have to wait and see what happens.
Jamie Vardy would score goals for fun if he joined Rangers. That's according to Ibrox idol Paul Gascoigne, who has backed Leicester City's greatest ever player for a move to Glasgow. Veteran Vardy will pull the curtain down on a legendary 13 years at the King Power this summer, where he helped fire the club to Premier League and FA Cup glory. Now 38, Vardy insists he has no intentions of hanging up the boots as he seeks to prolong his playing career.
And Gazza reckons the ex-England international would be a perfect fit for Gers. Speaking to CasinoBeats, he said: "He’s been a brilliant servant to Leicester and when you see him playing, you wouldn't think he's that age. Vardy seems like the type of guy who’s got his head screwed on and I don’t think he has many problems. Rangers are a tough team to play for. They expect you to be winning every game. But I’m sure he’d score some goals up there. Easy, no problem. Especially because he’s still got that pace."
Newcastle United are keen on Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo but are concerned about the £60m fee, according to a report. Bees boss Thomas Frank said they are open to offers for the France-born Cameroon international but will demand top dollar. The 25-year-old former Troyes man has also been linked as a potential Mo Salah replacement at Liverpool, but the Magpies are big admirers.
Celtic is set to release youngsters Joe Morrison, Alasdair Davidson, and Lewis Dobbie in the summer. The trio are all out-of-contract with the young Hoops at the end of the season. Keeper Morrison, defender Davidson, and striker Dobbie will all be looking for new clubs. They have all come through the ranks at Celtic and have also been involved with the club at B team level. Dobbie scored an outrageous back heel in the Scottish Youth Cup in 2023. Left-back Davidson has represented Scotland at youth level. Morrison was also named on the bench for last season’s Champions League campaign.
Alfredo Morelos is closing in on his 200th career goal and the former Rangers striker admits he's desperate to reach the milestone. The Colombian star netted 124 goals in 269 games for Rangers in a six-year spell. He's now at homeland club Nacional, where he has scored 17 goals. He's also netted five for his first club, Independiente Medellín, 46 for HJK Helsinki, and four in an ill-fated spell at Brazilian giants Santos. It means he is on 196 goals in 419 games and closing in on his double century of goals at the age of 28. And Morelos admitted he would love to reach the milestone soon - with his next two matches against Independiente Medellín and Brazilian club Internacional in the Copa Libertadores.
I am calm about the 200 goals target. Hopefully, I can reach it soon. Who knows, maybe I can score the four goals needed against Independiente Medellín and in the Copa Libertadores. When I do achieve it, I want to continue to score goals for a long time.
Livingston youngster Tommy North has been on trial with Stoke City. The teenager has been down training with the English Championship side. The move is with a view to joining the development squad at the Potteries. North has caught the eye for the young Lions under-18 squad. The forward has also caught the eye of Blackburn Rovers.
Bayern Munich reckon they're in a good position to land Bayern Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz, according to Sky Sports in Germany. But it's believed Leverkusen will push to sell elsewhere if the 21-year-old does want a move. Wirtz has scored 15 goals and assisted 13 this season as his star continues to rise despite Bayer's plateau after last season's title win.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Liverpool have been among those linked in the past, but it's reported Bayern fancy themselves as frontrunners. If he does want to leave, though, Leverkusen are expected to try and avoid selling him to the Bundesliga giants, potentially by lowering the asking price to foreign clubs. Wirtz is rated at well over £100m.
Bobby Clark is reportedly set to go 'back on the market' after his £10m move from Liverpool to RB Salzburg hasn't gone to plan. The 20-year-old was once highly-rated at Anfield with Rangers and Aberdeen linked with loan moves while he was on the fringes under Jurgen Klopp. But he was sold last summer to Salzburg, where Klopp's former lieutenant Pep Lijnders had just taken over. But Lijnders' dismissal in December left Clark in flux, and he's sat out their last four games altogether. And it's reported he is now available once more, with Leeds among the clubs alerted to his availability.
Fabio Silva could land a mega move away from Wolves this summer, with Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, as well as Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart, all keen on a £21m deal. It wasn't so long ago the £35m striker was struggling at Ibrox, but a move to Las Palmas has recaptured his potential, and this season he's hit double figures for a team struggling at the bottom of La Liga. He's still contracted to Wolves, and it seems they could be set to recoup a vast chunk of the outlay they paid for him as a teenager in 2020.
Reports down south credit Atletico, Villarreal, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart with an interest, and La Provincia in Spain say £21m is likely to do the trick. Jim Goodwin hopes Wrexham’s promotion to the Championship will knock Sam Dalby even further down their pecking order. The striker is on loan at Dundee United from the Welsh club – bankrolled by Hollywood’s Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney – but is out of contract this summer.
Boss Goodwin knows Dalby’s been offered a new deal but is hoping their rise up the leagues can help his cause to keep the frontman. Wrexham already have four or five strikers. They’ll spend even more money to make them competitive in that league. Sam knows if he were to commit to United, then he would be our No.9 and one of our key players.
Simo Valakari hopes he’s found the key to a Josh McPake career revival... three months after he was on his way out of St Johnstone. The former Rangers starlet was excellent on his first Premiership start last weekend. Despite a 3-2 defeat to Motherwell, the wideman impressed and teed up Saints’ two goals. And he looks sure to get the chance to unlock more defences as desperate Saints keep battling to get themselves off bottom.
McPake hadn’t got much further than the Perth fringes all season until Fir Park. But Valakari says the 23-year-old never stopped grafting in training every week. We all know Josh’s attacking talent and that he was a youth prodigy. He has found it difficult to break into adult football, and yes, in January we looked at options for him to go and play games. It’s not been easy, but he’s kept his head down. The opportunity came and he grabbed it with both hands. I see things starting to work for him now because in training I saw him work out he could be more dangerous running in behind defenders.
Fraser Taylor, who racked up 13 assists, joined St Mirren. Mixu Paatelainen has been appointed as The Spartans' new Sporting Director. United are 'considering' Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah. Louis Moult is open to anything when his United time comes to an end. Willian wants to stay in England's top flight. Newcastle is reportedly at the 'front of the queue' for Marc Guehi but three EPL rivals are keen. Andy Halliday suggests Rangers should target James Penrice. Joelinton is expected to miss the remainder of the season at Newcastle. Neil Lennon will discuss his future at Dunfermline at the end of the season.
Bayern Munich is considering Jonathan Tah as a centre-back option. Thomas Frank addressed Bryan Mbeumo's future at Brentford. Finally, Liam Burt, formerly of Celtic and Rangers, has signed with Glentoran.
