'Come to a Head' - Pundit view: Cantwell set for pay-off as 2 Rangers contracts terminated

Todd Cantwell could be set for a pay off to leave Rangers to avoid paying him to sit in the B Team for six months, says Tam McManus.

The pundit told PLZ Soccer on 26 August that the wantaway English midfielder’s situation could come to a head the day before the transfer deadline and see him ask for an amount to terminate his contract, which the club will accept to get out from paying the full amount.

Cantwell is out of the first-team picture after asking to leave, and McManus thinks the same could happen with Ianis Hagi who has also been frozen out.

He said (33m 30s): “You’ve got Ianis Hagi there and you’ve got Cantwell. I think that goes right down to the last couple of days of the window. I’ve been in that situation myself.

“You’re out of the picture at a club, the closer it comes to the window [closing] either they’ll get offered something to go or the players themselves will be thinking, ‘Do I want to sit and play in the B Team for another six months? There’s something available there, I’ll just go and take it and I’ll get myself back playing again’.

“As that window approaches I think you see players and clubs get a wee bit itchy to go and play football or to get them off the books… The worst one for me was when I was at Dundee under Alex Rae and David Farrell. I was out of the picture and training with the youth team.

“I had a year on my contract left and as that window approached the amount they were going to pay me off kept going up and up because they didn’t want me there for another six months paying me a full wage. And that’s what’s going to happen with these players as well.

“It’s either going to come to a head a day or two before and they go, ‘Right, that’s what I want’, and they just give it them and give them a deal. That’s what could possibly happen with Hagi and Cantwell.”

Rangers could pay off Ianis Hagi and Todd Cantwell

If there is no way back for either player the pay-off route would be the least bad option left to the Light Blues, since carrying two players in their mid-20s in the reserves until at least January would be an expensive mess.

But it is far from a great outcome so it would surely benefit all involved to find some sort of alternative solution in the final days.

Rangers appear to have banked on being able to sell both players, but Hagi has now rejected a move to Rapid Bucharest [Sky Sports, 26 August] and interest in Cantwell from Trabzonspor hasn’t brought a bid [Sky Sports, 12 August].

The Romanian wants to stay and the Englishman very much doesn’t but the view from the club seems to be the same either way.

The wage-rise clause in Hagi’s contract appears to be the issue for him [Daily Record, 13 August] so talks have been tipped with his representatives to find a workaround.

But Rangers fans aren’t thought to be willing to take Cantwell back in the same circumstances though so the only option may be to pack him off with a settlement fee.

That will be tough to swallow when cash is tight though, and if it comes right at the end of the window it would be too late to replace him.

In other Rangers news, the Light Blues are set to offload another ace who is on a “hell of a lot of money” at Ibrox.

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