Rangers could sell both Nigeria Internationals Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey for £40m this summer with both Super Eagles stars drawing interest from the Premier League and other top European Leagues.
Former Rangers manager Alexander McLeish has advised his former club to cash in on Super Eagles stars Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey if the Nigerians are not willing to put pen to paper this summer.
The 63-year-old noted that the Scottish side need to prevent a recurrence of the 2003 summer when his treble-winning side was cherry-picked due to players being out of contract.
Bassey and Aribo have been consistently linked to Premier League clubs this summer transfer window with their former manager Steven Gerrard said to want both Nigerian internationals at Villa Park.
In a lengthy interview with Daily Record, McLeish took a painful trip down memory lane when Rangers lost a greater chunk of their 2003 treble-winning squad.
The former Rangers manager said: “It was like me at the end of that season, losing seven or eight players and you’ve got a month to go before pre-season training starts and you are trying to regenerate the squad.
“You end up with free transfers coming in. Guys who have been great players but are maybe not at the peak of their careers any more. That’s hugely difficult, and as I say, that’s when the recruitment has to be great because the budget was downsizing and at Rangers you still have to play and be at a level the fans expect.
McLeish summarily said that the players who are out-of-contract soon must either renew their deals or be sold this summer.
McLeish said: “Every week in England, I am asked about Bassey. Is he going, is this one or that one going? The prices that are now being touted are astronomical and it’s credit to Rangers and the players for getting to the level they are playing at. They’ve raised the bar and raised the fees.