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Agent breaks silence on reported Rangers pursuit of 14-goal attacker
By Danny Wright
Rangers have not been looking to sign Gil Vicente’s attacker Paulinho, according to his agent Pedro Mendes.
The 24-year-old attacker was reportedly on Pedro Caixinha’s shortlist following a report from Portuguese news outlet A Bola which linked the two parties.
However rumours have been quashed by Mendes who has labelled the news as purely ‘speculation’.
Mendes is a former Rangers player but is also a co-founder of MNM Sports who supervise Paulinho’s career.
“I’m not going to feed speculation of course… but at the moment it was not even talked about! It’s just speculation,” said Mendes, as quoted by Sport Witness.
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“There’s nothing that links Paulinho to Rangers at the moment.”
The Portuguese attacker has been in deadly form for Gil Vicente this season in the Portuguese second-tier.
Paulinho is a versatile attacker than can play on both wings, as a striker or in the No 10 role.
He’s scored 14 goals this season, 11 of which have come in his last 13 outings.
The ex-Portugal Under-21 international was left out of the side that beat Ledman Liga Pro leaders Portimonense last weekend.
The Gil Vincente captain played for Santa Maria and Trofense before moving to Gil Vicente in 2013.
His side are currently seventh in the league and do not look as though they’re capable of returning to the top tier this year.
Caixinha is looking for attacking options as he looks to close down the gap between Rangers and their fierce Glasgow rivals Celtic.
Football Insider Verdict
Mendes didn’t exactly say that there was no chance of the deal happening and has left Rangers fans with a cliff-hanger at the end of his interview. He said there is nothing to the deal ‘at the moment’, which suggests that Paulinho could be tempted by an offer to move to Ibrox. Either way, Caixinha needs attacking reinforcements. Kenny Miller, who could be out of contract in the summer, has been their main source of goals this year. If not Paulinho, then Rangers fans can expect some new attacking options this summer.
In other Rangers news, Caixinha has revealed that these two players will miss the clash with Partick.
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