Gers should stump up the £1m asking price or risk losing Walker to England
Ferguson insists that if Ibrox club have genuine hopes of mounting title bid they must go extra mile to land Jamie Normal Service can be resumed for John
DEREK FERGUSON warned Rangers to stump up the extra cash needed to land Jamie Walker – or risk of losing the Hearts midfielder to England.
The former Rangers and Hearts player reckons if the Ibrox club are serious about mounting a title challenge to Celtic this season they will have to pay the Jambos the going rate for their prized asset.
Rangers have been knocked back three times in their efforts to lure Walker from Gorgie this summer with their last bid believed to be in the region of £600,000.
Hearts are holding out for £1million for the 24-year-old who has entered the final year of his deal and has refused to sign a new contract at Tynecastle. It remains to be seen if Rangers will launch a fourth bid but Ferguson has urged the Light Blues to get real if they do.
He said: “Jamie is a quality player and Rangers definitely need more quality in that area. If they want him they will have to pay Hearts the asking price.
“I don’t think Hearts are asking for too much – £1million is not a lot of money to pay for a top talent like Walker.
“If Rangers are serious about laying a marker down and offering any kind of title challenge to Celtic this season then they are going to have to stump up the cash.
“I am actually surprised more clubs down in England are not looking at Walker.
“I read Don Cowie’s comments recently and he expressed similar views. I have to agree totally with Don on that.
“Don has played in England so he knows exactly what it takes to be a success down south. I am sure there are some English clubs interested and are possibly monitoring his situation.
“The worst-case scenario for Rangers would be for Walker to eventually get fed up and end up signing a new one-year deal with Hearts.
“He could maybe do that with the view that if something interesting down south did come up further down the line then he would be allowed to go.”
Ferguson believes any deal to take Walker along the M8 from Edinburgh to Glasgow ought to have been done and dusted by now.
In fact the 49-year-old twice capped ex-Scotland midfielder cannot understand why that hasn’t happened long before now. He reckons Rangers missed a trick by not scouting Walker when the two sides faced off in the Championship in 2014-15. Ferguson said: “I am actually surprised Rangers have not been in for Walker long before now. “They had the perfect opportunity to do just that as they would have had a good look at him when both sides were in the Championship not so long ago and Hearts cantered to the title. “Anybody watching Scottish football closely would tell you that Walker has proved over the last couple of seasons how good a player he really is. “I am surprised Rangers didn’t actually see that for themselves. They probably now feel they can develop Walker even further but they should just be fair to Hearts and Walker as the player clearly fancies the move.
“I am scratching my head and wondering why it has taken so long for it to even come to this point. It is a total no-brainer.
“But I don’t think the constant speculation will affect him as he seems too much of a good professional to go in for all of that nonsense.”
Ferguson has no doubts Walker’s undoubted talent would see him waltz into Pedro Caixinha’s first team.
He said: “Walker would certainly be the first name on my teamsheet every week.
“He makes the difference in the final third of the park – he has drive, determination and can also score goals.
“He also has an edge to him and he is not a luxury kind of flair player. He is the real deal, a genuine footballer. The Rangers fans always love to see that quality in a player.”
Ferguson is all for Portuguese boss Caixinha recruiting more Scots having brought in an influx of Mexicans and fellow countrymen to Ibrox in the summer.
Caixinha watched Walker in action at Tynecastle during last Friday’s 2-1 pre-season friendly defeat to English Premier League new boys Newcastle.
Walker was on target for Ian Cathro’s men and Ferguson said: “Under Pedro a lot of players have signed for Rangers this summer from all around the planet, shall we say.
“Walker is Scottish so that’s an added bonus. I believe it is vitally important that Rangers as a club retain a core of Scottish players in the team.”
ANTHONY HAGGERTY
JOHN SOUTTAR has boosted his chances of playing in the Premiership curtain-raiser at Celtic after coming through his first game in six months.
The stopper scored in his 45-minute outing for Hearts’ Under-20 side in a 2-1 defeat to Civil Service Strollers.
Souttar has not featured at first-team level since rupturing his Achilles tendon at Celtic Park in January but is desperate to return to action against Brendan Rodgers’s treble winners on August 5.
Arnaud Djoum returned to training yesterday following an extended summer break after playing for Cameroon in the Confederations Cup.