Birmingham City have an interest in Rangers duo Ben Davies and Kieran Dowell following their successful loan spellsKieran Dowell (left) celebrates a Birmingham City victory with Ben Davies (centre) and Taylor Gardner-Hickman
Rangers are ready to be ruthless to cut their squad this summer after the arrivals of sporting director Kevin Thelwell and manager Russell Martin.
Birmingham City are keeping an eye on events at Ibrox in the hope of bringing last season’s loan duo Ben Davies and Kieran Dowell back to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
Davies and Dowell were key components of the Blues side that obliterated League One with an EFL-record 111 points.
They both have 12 months remaining on their existing contracts at Rangers and appeared to be on their way out before Martin’s arrival, but reports suggest the new man at the helm is keen to take a closer look at his squad before axing anyone.
There is likely to be a big turnaround in personnel at Ibrox and Thelwell plans to make ‘hard, fast decisions’ to put Rangers in a position to challenge Celtic.
When asked if there could be as many as 12 players leaving and the same amount coming in, Thelwell said: “I probably wouldn’t want to put a number on it at the moment.
“Clearly, there’s been work being done behind the scenes already. We’ve been evaluating and reviewing the current group that we’ve got.
“There are some very good players here at Rangers. But with every football club, there’s room for improvement, isn’t there?
“We want to go into the transfer market and find opportunities that help the team be better and stronger.
“Now that Russell is here as head coach, we’ve got a chance to sit down very quickly and talk more about what the group looks like and what we need to do going forward.
“We have to make some hard, fast decisions and then hopefully start to quickly build a team that helps us to win.”
Should Blues wait for developments on Davies and Dowell or move on? Let us know HEREGet the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone
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