Rangers close in Joe Garner

Rangers are aiming to iron out the final details of their move for Joe Garner after the striker told Preston he was keen to leave.

Published 16th Aug 2016

Rangers are aiming to iron out the final details of their move for Joe Garner after the striker told Preston he was keen to leave.

Preston will allow the 28-year-old to join the Ladbrokes Premiership newcomers once an agreement with Rangers is reached.

The clubs have agreed a deal in principle but are still negotiating the finer details of a move which is reported to be worth between £1.5-1.8million.

A Preston statement read: "On both Sunday and Monday discussions were held with Joe with regard to this situation.

"Joe has made it clear that the financial considerations in making this move would mean that he would want to leave.

"Assuming a final agreement can be reached with regard to a transfer fee we would not want to stand in the way of a player who no longer wished to remain with us. If Joe leaves, he goes with our very best wishes for what he has done in his time here."

The former Carlisle, Nottingham Forest and Watford striker scored six goals in 44 games for the Sky Bet Championship club last season after netting 27 in their promotion campaign the previous year.

Garner looks set to become Mark Warburton's 10th summer signing and the Rangers manager remains on the lookout for a defender with former Arsenal centre-back Philippe Senderos training with the club.

The 31-year-old - who has also played for AC Milan, Everton, Fulham, Valencia and Aston Villa on top of his seven-year stint with the Gunners - is available on a free transfer following his departure from Swiss club Grasshoppers.

Warburton told RangersTV: ''He is training for a week with us, we spoke to Philippe and to his agent and obviously he is a very talented player with a very impressive CV.

"It is a case of he has not been training with a team so he is in for a week with us and nothing more than that. He has an impressive CV both domestically and internationally, he is 31 and came in this morning and trained.

"He looks very good technically from his background and physically he looks in good shape so we will have him in for a week and then see what that leads to."

Meanwhile, Warburton has received good news after striker Martyn Waghorn started running sooner than expected following a hamstring injury.

Waghorn looks a safe bet to be fit in time for the trip to Celtic Park on September 10 after initially being ruled out for two to three weeks following a scan last Tuesday.

Warburton said: "Waggy has made great progress, and credit to him and the medical team. He is out jogging and they will gradually increase the loading. We won't welcome him back too soon but he is certainly way ahead of the curve."

The Ibrox boss added: "Jason Holt will have another appointment this week. He has an ongoing ankle problem which hopefully can be resolved fairly quickly and that is why he wasn't involved on Saturday.

"Jason had an operation previously on the ankle and he rolled it in training. We hoped it would have resolved itself but then he had some discomfort.

"He is too important to risk, and players' welfare is a key aspect to us so we will get him looked at and make sure he is okay. Hopefully we can welcome him back very shortly."

Matt Crooks started full training on Monday as he bids to make his debut following ankle surgery, while Josh Windass is close to rejoining his team-mates following a nerve problem.