Rangers midfielder to hold crunch talks about potential Ibrox exit
By James Black
Rangers outcast Andy Halliday has revealed he will enter crunch talks with Gabala about turning his loan deal there into a permanent one at the end of the season.
The midfielder joined Gabala on a season-long loan after falling out of favour with Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha and could make a permanent switch to the the former Soviet state.
Halliday is enjoying his time in the Azerbaijani Premier League and admits his main priority is to keep helping his side winning, although he has hinted that he is thinking about exiting Ibrox for good in the future.
“At the moment, two things are important for me – to play every week and to help my team win games,” Halliday said as quoted by the Scottish Sun website.
“That’s my main goals. As to my future, I will talk with the leadership of Gabala at the end of the season.
“We are third in the league at the moment and we want to get higher of course. We have some very good players in the squad.”
Halliday is under contract at Ibrox until 2020 but it appears his days are numbered under Pedro Caixinha.
After being a regular under previous manager Mark Warburton, Halliday struggled for game time after Caixinha took over in March.
The midfielder swapped Govan for Gabala in June and believes he has adapted well to his new surroundings, naming manager Roman Hryhorchuk in particular as a big influence, telling the Scottish Sun: “When we you play with players as good as that, you do not have any problems in terms of adaptation.
“Every day I think I am adapting more out here.
“In Azerbaijan, the tempo of the game is very quick. At Gabala, we are getting better I think as the season progresses.
“Our manager, Roman Hryhorchuk is good for me. In many ways, we are similar in character. We both have a will to win.
Halliday scored 15 times in 90 appearances for the Gers after signing for his boyhood heroes in 2015.
Last season, Halliday was involved in a training ground bust-up with Joey Barton following a 5-1 defeat to Celtic which led to the former Man City and Burnley midfielder being suspended by the club for several months before having his contract terminated.
In other Rangers news, Alan Brazil has predicted what would happen if the Gers and Celtic moved to play south of the border.
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