RANGERS are closing in on a double swoop – with Max Aarons and Kwame Poku set to sign.
SunSport can reveal Bournemouth full-back Aarons and Peterborough winger Poku are now on the brink of sealing moves to Ibrox.
Sign up for the Rangers newsletter
2
2
The pair will arrive as new boss Russell Martin kicks off the reshaping of his Gers squad.
Cherries right-back Aarons – who can also play on the left – is likely to join on loan and will present an immediate challenge to skipper James Tavernier.
He was out of favour at the Vitality Stadium and spent the second part of last season on loan at Valencia but started just two games for the La Liga side.
Aarons, 25, came through the youth ranks at Norwich when Martin was starring in the first team and went on to play over 200 times for the Canaries.
read more rangers stories
He joined Bournemouth for £7million in 2023 and made 23 appearances in his first season before being overlooked.
Martin has remained an admirer of Aarons and showed interest in signing him when he was Southampton boss.
Aarons spoke recently about his respect for Martin, who was sent to train with the youth team in 2018 when then Canaries boss Daniel Farke was trying to force him out.
On the Talk Norwich City podcast last month Aarons said: “When he came and trained with us he had an aura.
“I always knew he would go on to be a manager. I think players who played with him always knew that as well.
“I knew we had to be on it when he was training with us and giving 110 per cent because if not Russ would tell you and I loved that.
Russell Martin’s to-do list in first week as Rangers boss PLUS Lawrence Shankland and Greg Taylor latest
“He pushed every single training session. When he was training with us it almost gave me a feel that I was ready to go and make the jump with the senior players.”
Gers are also set to win the race for in-demand Poku, 23, whose Posh deal is due to run out at the end of the month.
The Ghana wideman was one of the standout performers in League One last term with 12 goals and eight assists in an injury-hit campaign.
Croydon-born Poku had interest from Championship sides including big-spending Birmingham and clubs abroad but Gers now believe they will land him.
Posh hoped Poku – signed four years ago from Colchester for just £250,000 – would stay in England where the compensation tribunal for under 24 players would see them land more than the FIFA values for cross border moves.
Gers will still have to pay some development costs but they will be significantly less, just as they were when they signed Joe Aribo from Charlton in 2019.
Poku will arrive as a direct replacement for Vaclav Cerny, who has returned to parent club Wolfsburg following the end of his loan spell.
Out-of-contract Swansea defender Harry Darling – who Martin bossed at MK Dons – looks set to join Norwich.
