Pay demand from Bates ‘excessive,’ insists Ibrox boss

GRAEME MURTY insists Rangers were not prepared to meet the ‘excessive’ demand of matching the money David Bates will earn from a four-year deal with relegationthreatened Hamburg.

The Ibrox manager expressed his disappointment that Bates will leave when his deal expires this summer and instead move to Germany.

And he also took a swipe at Hamburg for ignoring a request to keep the 21-year-old defender’s switch under wraps until after tomorrow’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic.

Bates will not play at Hampden as he continues to recover from an ankle injury but Murty has not closed the door on the centre-back featuring in his side once he regains fitness.

However, amid claims the player was seeking £7,500-per-week, he made it clear finance was central to Bates’ decision to leave the club he grew up supporting.

‘We offered him a contract that we felt was good enough to see him stay,’ insisted Murty. ‘I am disappointed more than surprised that he hasn’t accepted it.

‘The economic reality is they (Hamburg) have come in and made an offer we can’t match. Their demands for parity on that weren’t something we were prepared to match. What he wanted was excessive and it wasn’t something we could or were prepared to pay.

‘Whether he has made a mistake will be borne out by what happens in the future but he has taken the opportunity to go and expand his football knowledge elsewhere.

‘I felt he could be an international footballer by remaining at Rangers and I put that to him. He has lots to work on and develop but I feel he could do that here.

‘Unfortunately, he will now move away from a fantastic club that has spent a lot of time on his development. We respect that, but it’s disappointing.’ Hamburg sit second-bottom of the Bundesliga, five points adrift of the relegation play-off place with just five games remaining. Asked if losing Bates showed how far Rangers still had to go in terms of recovering past stature, Murty added: ‘Let’s not beat around the bush, David has gone for more money than we can offer him and he could be playing in Bundesliga II next year. ‘Hopefully they don’t go down and they stay in the Bundesliga but he is going for more money than we can give him. So, take emotion out of the situation, take the fact he is a Rangers fan out of the situation, there is a load of money on the table. Extrapolate out of that what you will.’ Hamburg revealed they had agreed a pre-contract with Bates in a statement on their website on Thursday. ‘We would, as a club, be better served if we waited until after the semi-final to have that out in the public domain,’ said Murty. ‘That’s what we asked for but unfortunately the people we are dealing with did not respect that.’ Bates (left) was injured early in last month’s 3-2 defeat against Celtic and has suffered a minor recurrence in his comeback bid. Regardless of the outcome at Hampden tomorrow, Rangers still have five post-split Premiership fixtures to come. ‘He wasn’t in contention this weekend,’ added Murty. ‘He tried his best but suffered a reaction, so this game comes a little too soon. ‘I’d like to think I am a bigger man than just to drop someone because he is leaving. I would like to think if we need him he will be available once he’s back fit. ‘I will make my decision then based on the needs of the team.’