Rangers warned Sheffield Wednesday transfer raid could cost big bucks as star swoop may reach £10m
Manchester City and Manchester United have also expressed an interest
Rangers transfer target Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday would be a strong addition to Danny Rohl’s squad - but former Owls winger Chris Waddle reckons he could cost them up to £10m.
The 20-year old goalkeeper looks to be headed for the Hillsborough exit door, with Manchester City keeping tabs on him. Charles came through the academy ranks at City as a youngster before moving to Wednesday, where Rohl gave him his debut. With the future of current Rangers number one Jack Butland uncertain, the Light Blues boss may be forced to find a long-term solution.
Former Newcastle United, Tottenham and Falkirk man Waddle spent four years at Wednesday as a player. He believes City may be willing to offer Charles ‘silly money’ for a return, which would potentially blow Rangers out of the water in terms of a deal. The Northern Ireland international still has a year left on his contract in South Yorkshire.
Rangers to expect hefty price tag for transfer target
Waddle told The Star, he said: “I think there’s a lot of good goalkeepers around and available. There aren’t many teams with bad goalkeepers. So there is a hell of a lot of goalkeepers available if they [Manchester City] are going to offer silly money (for Charles). I would think it will be one, two or three million in add-ons. If he gets in the first team, there’s another million or whatever. It should add up to about five or £10m.”
Charles made 21 appearances for the Owls in disastrous season on and off the pitch which saw them relegated to EFL League One. The club were deducted 18 points over the course of the season after entering administration and breaches of payment regulations. This was part of the reason why Rohl left by mutual consent in July last year. Waddle also believes that if a big club were to come in for Charles, they could loan him back to Wednesday for a season to see how he fares in the third tier.
Charles ‘needs to play’ football
He continued: “Everybody needs to play. I understand if you're 40 or 38 or 37 you could be on the bench. But when you're young, you've got to play football. You need to play and you need to play the level. No disrespect to the reserve league or under-21 league, they are rubbish. They don't tackle, they don't compete.
“It's not like the reserve league used to be when I grew up. The reserve league was a real, hard, physical league, where you got bumps and bruises every week, and it was as good as playing in the fourth division or third division, I can tell you. In modern football, there's no contact in the reserve games, so he needs to play now. “
“If somebody wants to buy and stick him in the reserves, I don’t see the sense in that. He needs to be playing whether it be the Championship, Premier League, even League One. If a big club did buy him, I think they might be quite willing to loan him out for a year, they may want him in the Championship, but I'm sure they'd loan him back out.”
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