Rangers eye £400k deal for ex-Falkirk star Vaulks

RANGERS are weighing up a £400,000 move for Rotherham defensive midfielder Will Vaulks. Shell-shocked manager Pedro Caixinha is plotting a substantial overhaul of the Ibrox squad following the 5-1 defeat to Celtic on Saturday. The Portuguese has drawn up a list of potential targets after receiving the green light to bring in up to a dozen new faces. Ex-Falkirk player Vaulks is one of those under consideration, with Wolves also interested in one of the few players to earn pass marks during Rotherham’s relegation from the English Championship. Vaulks, 23, prefers a holding role but can also play centre-half and deputised at right-back in recent weeks for ex-Celtic defender Darnell Fisher. Meanwhile, Ibrox legend Kris Boyd fears Caixinha will face huge problems trying to shift his high-earning

under-achievers ahead of a planned summer rebuild. Boyd believes the current squad is so poor the club will have to pay to get unwanted players off the wage bill and out the door. And he questioned if there are adequate funds to help the club try to bridge the growing chasm with six-in-a-row champions Celtic. Boyd said: ‘Is anybody going to buy any of these players? These guys are probably on the most money they will ever earn in their careers, so they are not going to leave. ‘You’ve still got a squad of 20 players and I can’t think of any, apart from (veteran defender) Clint Hill, being out of contract in the summer. You’d have to get rid of them one way or another. ‘The big problem is when you tell people they are not needed, they will just down tools. You have to find money to pay these guys off. They become a hindrance hanging about. ‘Every manager will have a shopping list but where is the money coming from to turn it round? And the wage bill can’t jump back up. It’s about balancing everything.’ Caixinha has been in charge for seven matches, including two Old Firm defeats, and Boyd is struggling to detect any signs of progress so far. Instead, he says Rangers are now ‘a million miles’ off Celtic and have completely lost the fear factor they once used to instil in the top flight’s other clubs. ‘The gap is getting even wider,’ he said. ‘When you (change manager) mid-season, you usually get a reaction from the players. I haven’t seen any. ‘I know there’s not been a transfer window yet but you can always judge what a manager gets out of players in that short period of time. ‘Rangers were a far better team earlier in the season. They weren’t taking chances but were dominating games. ‘They were difficult games to play against Rangers whereas now it’s just like playing against anyone else. The fear factor is not there. ‘You just want to have a team out there who can challenge Celtic at least. But it’s a million miles away.’ Ex-Ibrox midfielder Alex Rae, who was interviewed for the assistant coach position before Rangers opted for Jonatan Johansson, believes Mark Warburton and former chief scout Frank McParland have left Caixinha with a squad lacking the strength and ability to succeed. ‘Rangers’ recruitment has been poor,’ said Rae. ‘Warburton liked a certain type of player but Rangers players need a physical presence as well as technical ability and his signings have neither. ‘It will be interesting to see just how much money the manager is allowed to spend this summer. Those defeats against Celtic couldn’t have come at a worse time as they’re about to put season tickets on sale for 2017-18.’ Chairman Dave King boasted last month about the ‘excellent’ youth academy at Auchenhowie but Rae claims that is another problem. ‘You look at Celtic and they had Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest, who’d all come through the ranks at Lennoxtown,’ he said. ‘The Rangers academy needs to start producing some stars of their own because I can’t think of one player of value who has emerged from it. You could argue a case for Lewis MacLeod, who was sold to Brentford for £850,000, but the jury’s out on him due to all of his injury problems. ‘You certainly can’t count Barrie McKay because he’s not a product of the youth system — he joined from Kilmarnock and was then farmed out to Morton and Raith Rovers.’