Rangers transfers: Jerusun Rak-Sakyi loan bid 'rejected despite £10m obligation to buy'

It is being reported that Rangers have made an initial loan offer with an obligation to buy next summer of Rak-Sakyi, with the final fee potentially worth up to £10million, according to The Athletic - which would be the second highest amount paid for a player by Rangers behind the £12m spent on Chelsea’s Tore Andre Flo back in 2000. However, Palace chiefs are claimed to have thrown out the proposal.

Rak-Sakyi is a 22-year-old right-winger who has been capped by England up to under-21 level. He has three years remaining on a long-term contract at Crystal Palace and spent last season on loan at Sheffield United in the English Championship.

Rak-Sakyi returned to Selhurst Park for pre-season training earlier this month with his future unclear despite his deal running until 2028. Rangers’ interest in him was first reported last month. He has not been able to sufficiently impress current Palace head coach Oliver Glasner since the Austrian took over and appears to be behind other players in their frontline.

Rangers remain very keen to strengthen their options out wide. While Djeidi Gassama, who scored in Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League win over Panathinaikos, came in earlier this month from Sheffield Wednesday, he prefers to play on the left wing. Head coach Russell Martin remains short of tangible quality on the right flank, with Kieran Dowell - primarily a central midfielder - deployed there against the Greeks.

The emergence of teenager Findlay Curtis, as well as the return to fitness of Colombian Oscar Cortes, does give Martin some further cover out wide, but the new manager is naturally desperate to add more quality to that part of the team. One of Rangers’ best players last season was Czech internationalist Vaclav Cerny, who played predominantly on the right, but his loan from Wolfsburg expired in May and the chances of a return appear very slim.

Martin has admired Rak-Sayki for some time

It is understood that Martin wanted to sign Rak-Sakyi while he was in charge of Southampton and targeting the Palace winger - who can also represent Ghana as well as England - is another example of Rangers plundering the English market. Under the watch of new sporting director Kevin Thelwell, Rangers have brought in Max Aarons and Joe Rothwell (Bournemouth), Nasser Djiga (Wolves), Emmanuel Fernandez (Peterborough), Thelo Aasgaard (Luton) and Gassama (Sheff Wed).

Rangers also want to freshen up their options at No 9. All three of last seasons striker in Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane featured against Panathinaikos, but the latter duo’s futures remain under some speculation. AEK Athens have been linked with Dessers, while Lille and a host of other European sides have a reported interest in Igamane. Any incomings in that area, however, are likely to hinge on what happens to the current attackers.

Rangers are in Athens next week to play the second leg of their tie with Panathinaikos. Should they win, they will face either Servette or Viktoria Plzen in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Defeat would result in the Ibrox side dropping into the Europa League third qualifying round against Shakhtar Donetsk or Besiktas. Regardless of what competition they are in, Martin will want further options for their European campaign.

Domestically, Rangers start their Premiership campaign a week on Saturday away at Motherwell.