Owls set to swoop as Pedro bid stalls

play-off exits in successive years, will be lavishly funded once again.

Dorrans (below) is one of several players Norwich are prepared to sacrifice as they reshape their squad under the watchful eye of new director of football Stuart Webber and head coach Daniel Farke.

However, they are looking for an increase on Rangers’ opening bid and that could instead come from Wednesday.

That will force Caixinha to weigh up the cost of the entire package involved in landing the boyhood Rangers supporter.

The bulk of the manager’s budget was committed to securing Carlos Pena in a deal that could rise to £2.2million, while he is also closing in on other Mexican and Portuguese targets.

The prospect of a bidding war for Dorrans could make the Portuguese boss think again as he seeks to squeeze the best value out of the funds handed over by the Ibrox board.

Pena was in Glasgow on Friday for a medical and to agree personal terms. Delays involving a work-permit application mean he will not return for the start of pre-season training with the rest of the first-team squad on Monday.

Mexican striker Eduardo Herrera also has work-permit issues but could yet join the influx later this week if his club, Pumas, relax their demands over a sell-on clause. From Caixinha’s homeland, the interest in Benfica pair Daniel Candeias and Dalcio remains live, as do negotiations over 23-year-old Vitoria Setubal central defender Fabio Cardoso. Meanwhile, former Rangers forward and Dorrans’ current colleague Steven Naismith has claimed that interest in Scottish football will suffer drastically if no club offers a serious challenge to Celtic. ‘Celtic won the league at a canter and the fan base, everything, will just die away if that continues,’ Naismith told BBC Scotland. ‘If it’s the same old every year, it gets boring and Scottish football needs strong teams at the top. ‘When you think back to when Hearts were challenging Celtic and Rangers for the title (2005-06), it was so exciting and gets many more fans involved.’ Brendan Rodgers guided Celtic to a domestic clean sweep including that runaway Ladbrokes Premership title success by 30 points from Aberdeen. Rangers were nine points further adrift. Naismith added: ‘For Rangers to be that far behind Aberdeen and Celtic isn’t acceptable. ‘As a club this is a massive summer for them to get to the stage where they are competing again at the top. ‘To be back in Europe is massive for them and for Scottish football.’