Schalke leave Ibrox-bound star out of tour

SCHALKE yesterday confirmed Rabbi Matondo had been left out of their pre-season training camp as the winger’s £2.5million move to Rangers edges ever closer. The 21-year-old Welsh international is poised to become Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s fourth signing of the summer following John Souttar, Antonio Colak and Tom Lawrence in strengthening the Ibrox squad. Matondo has opted for Rangers despite rival interest in his services. Schalke agreed a deal worth up to £11m to sign him from Manchester City three years ago, but are now keen to trim their wage bill after the player enjoyed an impressive loan spell at Cercle Brugge in Belgium last season. The Bundesliga side confirmed Matondo would not be part of their pre-season plans in Austria because of ‘transfer talks’. As Sportsmail revealed yesterday, Rangers are also targeting Bayern Munich youngster Malik Tillman. The 20-year-old can play either as an attacking midfielder or striker and is a US international after recently switching allegiance from Germany. Meanwhile, Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom has admitted Rangers blew his club ‘out of the water’ to land Lawrence. ‘If Macca (Stuart McCall) were here answering this question, or Flecky (John Fleck), they’d be raving about Rangers and European football,’ the ex-Hibs boss told the Sheffield Star. ‘A team who got to the Europa League final last year, things like that, it’s going to be a big pull. ‘Obviously they’re big payers, a big pull, different football. It’s one of those things. ‘You can’t get them all. Would I have liked him? Yeah. If Rangers hadn’t have come in and blown everyone out of the water, I would have backed us to get him.’ The Ibrox club have also signed 17-year-old striker Connor Young from Hibs for an undisclosed five-figure fee plus a sell-on clause. Van Bronckhorst has admitted Nnamdi Ofoborh’s future at Ibrox remains unclear, but says the health of the 22-year-old midfielder remains paramount. Ofoborh signed a four-year deal with Rangers in the summer of 2021 before joining up with Steven Gerrard’s squad. However, tests flagged up an issue with his heart and he remains on the sidelines. The manager said: ‘It’s a situation we have to be very careful about to make sure we make the right decisions for his health.’