‘Birmingham want to table Davies and Dowell offers amid Rangers manager hold up’
Rangers’ ongoing search for a new first-team manager is impacting the transfer plans of Birmingham City around Ben Davies and Kieran Dowell.
It has been a frustrating season for the Ibrox club, who again missed out to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race.
Following the sacking of Philippe Clement earlier in the year, Barry Ferguson was placed in interim charge of first-team affairs at Ibrox for the remainder of the campaign.
However, it has already been confirmed that Ferguson will not be staying on as Rangers manager after some poor results, something that is now influencing the transfer plans of other clubs.
Birmingham City wait on Kieran Dowell and Ben Davies
It remains to be seen who will replace Ferguson at Ibrox in the long-term, with prospective investors the 49ers Enterprise searching for new managers for Rangers.
Meanwhile, Birmingham are looking to build on a successful campaign in which they won promotion back to the Championship from League One at the first time of asking.
Two players who played an important part in that success for Chris Davies‘ side were Davies and Dowell, who both spent time on loan at St Andrew’s from Rangers.
Although those loan deals have expired, an update from the Daily Mail reports that Birmingham are keen to re-sign the duo from the Glasgow outfit on permanent deals.
The Blues are willing to wait until Rangers have appointed their new manager before making moves to sign the pair.
It is thought that a new boss will hold talks with sporting director Kevin Thelwell to assess the squad at Ibrox before decisions are made, with Davies and Dowell expected to be deemed surplus to requirements.
That could open the door for Birmingham as they aim to put together a package for the pair, although they are said to want an answer soon, before potentially turning their attention to other targets.
Rangers duo transfer plans makes sense for Blues
Football Insider Verdict
Despite the fact they have only just won promotion, it is clear from the investment at St Andrew’s under the ownership of Tom Wagner that the club will have big ambitions for their Championship return.
As a result it makes sense that they are willing to wait on Rangers to make a decision over the future of Davies and Dowell for a period.
Both players have proven Championship pedigree and know the club well, so would be useful assets for Birmingham if they do return.
However, they cannot afford to wait forever to do these deals, since they will not want to miss out on targets by waiting for these players only for transfers to fall through.
Rangers though will also likely want to move on Davies and Dowell to make room for their own new signings in the summer.
With that in mind it would surely suit all parties if some form of decision can be made quickly about what the future holds for the centre-back and midfielder.