PRIME TARGET
McCoist believes Livvy star Dykes could make his mark at Rangers
ALLY McCOIST last night urged Rangers to take a punt on Livingston hitman Lyndon Dykes.
Lille are expected to step up their attempts to sign Alfredo Morelos after agreeing a £55million deal to sell Victor Osimhen to Napoli.
Bordeaux striker Josh Maja is one of a number of names under consideration to replace Morelos if he goes. However, Sportsmail understands Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard faces competition from English Premier League club West Ham for the Nigerian international.
And McCoist believes £2m-rated Barnsley target Dykes offers a cut-price, ready-made alternative.
With Jermain Defoe sidelined by a hamstring injury, Gerrard wants to reinforce his attacking options and McCoist said: ‘It’s an absolute certainty he’ll have a couple of strikers earmarked.
‘I’ve been saying for about a year that I would have gone and paid the money for Lyndon Dykes.
‘The big fella gives you something different. He’s strong, he’s aggressive, he’s quick and he’s scored goals against both Rangers and Celtic.
‘I’ve never seen anyone recently give the Celtic
defence problems the way he has. It’s a gamble but I would take the chance and maybe if Livingston get the right price they would sell him. ‘If Morelos goes then Steven will have earmarked at least one centre-forward. Defoe is out with a hamstring injury and that would mean he’ll be out for a minimum of two weeks.’ Willing to pay £15m to land Morelos, Lille’s overtures fell short of what Rangers want for the striker. An offer of £17.5m could swing the deal and, despite the Colombian scoring 60 goals in the past two seasons, McCoist believes Rangers would be right to sell. ‘If Steven and the club are made a Marlon Brando offer they can’t refuse then they’ve got to take it. ‘If Neil Lennon can come out last week and say every Celtic player has a price then it’s fair to say that every player in the country has a price on their head — and Rangers are absolutely no different now. ‘I can’t see them knocking back an offer for Morelos if it is an acceptable one — and I think the vast majority of Rangers fans will understand and accept that. ‘His goals and some of his performances have been fantastic. That is the plus side. ‘The negative side is that discipline-wise he has been extremely poor.’ Kris Boyd also thinks Rangers can cash in on Morelos and build a more dangerous team capable of stopping ten in a row. ‘If Rangers get good money for Morelos and they can go and get in a couple of strikers who are different, then they could potentially be more of a threat in the league,’ said Boyd. ‘You don’t want to lose your best players but if they’re looking towards the £20m figure, that would give Rangers a significant fee to go and reinvest in the squad. ‘They can get in three or four quality players to challenge Celtic. I don’t think Rangers will fear Celtic in one-off games. ‘But, in other games, you need different options and Morelos brings one style of play.’