Sources: Hull City and Cardiff City race to sign Jens Hjerto-Dahl after Rangers decision
Hull City and Cardiff City have joined the race to sign Tromso midfielder Jens Hjerto-Dahl, sources have told Football Insider.
The 20-year-old is expected to leave the Norwegian outfit this summer and has attracted interest from a number of clubs in England, Scotland and across Europe's top leagues.
Cardiff have been long-term admirers and hoped to lure him to Wales this summer, but competition from newly-promoted Hull is set to complicate their pursuit.
As I revealed on the latest edition of Football Insider's Transfer Insider podcast, both Cardiff and Hull are preparing offers for Hjerto-Dahl and believe he could be lured away.
Tromso are believed to be demanding a fee of around £8.5million to sell the highly-rated midfielder, but despite the steep asking price, both clubs remain very keen.
Rangers had also been interested in signing the Norway Under-21 international this summer, but were detered by his asking price and the growing interest from rivals.
While both clubs are still believed to be among his admirers, it is Hull and Cardiff who are currently leading the race to lure the midfielder to English football.
After Rangers dropped out of the race, they now look set to go head-to-head in their pursuit, with both clubs confident of reaching an agreement.
Speaking on the Transfer Insider podcast, I explained: "Rangers had a bid rejected for him of around five million, but Tromso have been holding out for a high fee of around 8.5 million.
"So that interest has cooled, and potentially opened the door for some of the other interested clubs to come in and make a move for him.
"They have now withdrawn from the race for Hjerto-Dahl, with other clubs interested like Cardiff City and now Hull City as well.
"Rangers would have found it hard to compete with a potential move to English football if either of those clubs do follow up their interest in him."
What happened to Rangers' interest in Hjerto-Dahl?
Rangers had been heavily tipped as the front-runners to sign Hjerto-Dahl this summer, having been long-term admirers after they missed out on a deal last year.
However, they have now decided to pull out of their pursuit, potentially opening the door for their rival clubs to make moves in the coming weeks.
Football Insider revealed on 31 July that Rangers have withdrawn from negotiations over Hjerto-Dahl as they remained a way off of meeting his lofty asking price.
An opening offer of £5million had been tabled by the Ibrox club and then swfitly rejected, and they have now opted against making a follow-up bid.
Meanwhile, interest from the English clubs who are better-placed financially made the deal difficult for Rangers to pull off, and they instead opted to walk away.