Rangers tipped to win January transfer race for EFL stand out as ex Celtic star 'gutted' to miss return

Celtic moved even further ahead of Rangers in the Scottish Premiership title race this weekend with a convincing 4-1 win over Hearts in Tynecastle.

Philippe Clement’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United at Ibrox which means the reining champions are now 11 points clear of their Glasgow rivals. However, the Gers were able to close the gap on second placed Aberdeen who lost their first match of the season away to St Mirren.

The focus for the Ibrox club now will not only be getting results but also thinking ahead to the upcoming January transfer window to bolster their ranks and a recent report is tipping them to win the race to land a EFL stand out who has plenty of interest in England. Meanwhile, a former Celtic star has said he is ‘gutted’ to be missing out on a match with his old team in Europe next week.

Rangers tipped to win January transfer race for EFL stand out

Per a report from Football Insider, Rangers could be about to beat several English clubs to the signing of Peterborough star Kwame Poku in January. The site claims the Ibrox club want to open talks with the Ghanaian international as early as next month.

The 23-year old is entering the final months of his contract with League One side and it is claimed that Rangers could ‘poach’ the midfielder for a ‘minimal compensation fee’. This is due to the cross border transfer rules which would prevent English clubs doing the same with Poku reportedly having multiple interested suitors in the EFL Championship as well.

It is also claimed that Peterborough would ‘prefer to bring in a fee’ if the player is to leave so may be more inclined to sell to another EFL club if a decent enough offer comes in next month. Poku is apparently considered a cost effective target for Rangers given the club’s reported current financial situation.

Ex Hoops star ‘gutted’ to miss out on Celtic Park return

Former Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata will not feature for Club Brugge when they travel to Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League next week. That is because the Belgian defender has fallen out of favour at his current club and was not registered in their initial European squad for the league phase matches.

In an interview with Mail Sport, the 33-year old said: “I’m really disappointed not to be coming back to Celtic Park. But my situation here was created before the Champions League squads were done. It was made especially difficult for me when I found out Brugge would be playing Celtic away. We were also drawn against Manchester City so it’s the two clubs where I did everything before.

“It was hard to hear. It would have meant a lot to me to come back to Glasgow and play at Celtic Park again. It’s a place where I spent four years of my life. I’d say that’s where I became a proper professional player.

“Celtic is the club that made me a man. And family-wise, myself and my wife had some great times over there. So it’s really disappointing not to be going back with Brugge. But it’s football. You can never have everything you want.

“Celtic was by far the best period of my career and one of my happiest times. Because as a young player, I was playing at City before but went to a place where I’d have the chance to play every week. And of course, there was the challenge at Celtic of trying to win trophies. That was a new experience for me.

“When you’re there you don’t realise it but you just never know how many times you’re going to get that in your career. That’s what I’d say to a player winning a cup - enjoy it because you don’t know when it will happen in the future. For sure, I probably had the best time of my life at Celtic.”