'Wonderfully gifted' 20-goal ace Rangers tried to sign now wanted for Premier League move after captaincy role

A star Rangers moved to sign under Michael Beale could now be heading for a Premier League transfer.

Morgan Whittaker was a highly-publicised target in the winter transfer window of 2023 after a good first half of the 22/23 campaign on loan at Plymouth from Swansea City. They recalled him with an Ibrox move looking likely but a deal collapsed and the forward stayed put with the Swans until the end of the season.

He joined Plymouth permanently in the summer for a club-record fee and has helped them survive in the Championship with 20 goals, while he has also worn the captain’s armband for a run of games, still only 23.

Lazio made a move for him this year but now The Mirror claim Fulham are targeting him and could offer a possible Premier League platform. He is reportedly ‘on the radar’ as they look to bolster their winger and forward department just over a year after Rangers’ failed pursuit.

Argyle head coach Ian Foster knows why the forward is attracting big-name attention. He said to BBC Devon: "My job is to make him more complete so people can't say 'he doesn't do this and he doesn't do that. He's a wonderfully gifted footballer, we know, but he's proving as well now that as captain of the football club he can do the dirty side of it as well.

"The board have been brilliant, I think they've been really brave. I think they've been quite open and transparent throughout the entire window in that he's not a player they want to sell. More importantly it's a player that doesn't want to leave.

"It's rare sometimes in football that you get players who are just really happy and content in terms of where they live, who they play football with, who they work with, who they represent.

"Him and his family are loving life at the moment, so they're not in a rush to go anywhere, and that's lovely as well, and that's a testament to the football club."

Then-Swansea boss Russell Martin confirmed a bid had been rejected by the Welsh side for Whittaker from Rangers, but Michael Beale at the time was unaware, although he did admit the forward was a player he liked.

He said in January 2023: “I didn’t know we had made a bid but I will talk about the player. They have recalled him for a reason.

"I would say that he was one of the better - if not the best - player in League One in the first half of the season and unless they have recalled him to play him, they must have recalled him to move him to a higher level. I think he’s a good player but there is nothing more than that. And that is not what I have been told in-house.”