Gijs Smal offers Rangers transfer plan B as Josh Doig alternative brings assists and a nickname for the ages

The summer contract of the 26-year-old Twente left back expires, and Celtic https://dailysportnews.co.ukhas also been linked to him.

Due to his summer contract expiring, Gjis Smal of Twente Enschede has been linked to a move to Rangers.

The current options in Philippe Clement’s squad for that position are Borna Barisic and Ridvan Yilmaz. However,

Yilmaz, who has struggled to establish himself at Ibrox,

is being mentioned as makeweight in a possible deal to bring Scotland Under 21s captain Josh Doig to Govan,

as Barisic’s contract is up at the end of the season.

Yilmaz would go the other way, with former Hibs sensation Doig coming to the Scottish Premiership, if Verona were interested in a cash plus player deal.

But as a backup plan, Twente’s 26-year-old defender,

known as “Smaldini” in his native Italy due to his resemblance to the great Paolo Maldini, has been linked to Rangers in the Netherlands.

Celtic has also been connected to him.Smal joined Twente three years ago as a free agent from Volendam. With 10 assists last season,

he led all Eredivisie players in assists,

accounting for 18% of Twente’s league goals. But if a team pays a fee for him, he is very certainly going to depart the Enschede club this month or this summer.

Last month, Arnold Bruggink, technical director of Twente, stated: “Of course, we would very much like it if Gijs signed a new deal with us.

But that needs to be desired by both sides. Unfortunately, we also need to be realistic about that aspect of his future.”

Smal was linked to Celtic last month as well, but according to reports from the Netherlands, Rangers is interested in the midfielder,

who was valued at £6 million the previous season.Due to a calf injury, he missed a significant portion of the season’s beginning.

However, he has since recovered and appears likely to play out his contract before making a decision.

Get more related news on https://dailysportnews.co.uk