PL duo looking to take Rangers’ Ryan Kent on a free | OneFootball

Aston Villa and Leeds United are preparing to talk to Ryan Kent in January after it emerged the Rangers winger will almost certainly be leaving Ibrox next year after reportedly rejecting the contract offered him.

Steven Gerrard and Jesse Marsch are the two front-runners to take the attacker with both having long-held interest in his services, Leeds previously having a £10M bid rejected some years ago by the Rangers board under former boss Marcelo Bielsa.

And now it’s looking like one of them will either get him on a cut-price final six months of his contract deal, or a free with a precontract in the summer.

Either way, Rangers are almost certainly not recouping the transfer fee of £7.5M on Kent, never mind the escape clause value said to be three times that in £20M, which probably won’t go down too well with fans.

It’s all a bit disappointing really – Kent’s form has been distracted at best this year, with one or two stand out performances, particularly v Dortmund in the Europa League, but overall he’s fallen short of his capabilities, and like Glen Kamara, appears demotivated and eager to move on.

He may shock us all yet by signing a new deal, but for once, we accept what Rangers MD Stewart Robertson said and admit the ball is in Kent’s court.

And it’s not looking good.