Kieran Dowell spent the second half of the season on loan at Birmingham City from Rangers
Rangers midfielder Kieran Dowell during his loan at Birmingham City
Kieran Dowell is playing a prominent role in Rangers’ pre-season preparations having returned to Glasgow following his successful loan spell at Birmingham City.
Dowell and Ben Davies were important cogs in Chris Davies’ League One title-winning team last season and Blues are understood to be interested in bringing both players back to the Second City.
However, Rangers have appointed Russell Martin as their new manager and he has reintegrated Dowell into the first team fold in the first week-and-a-half of pre-season.
Rangers play their first friendly on Sunday against Belgian side Club Brugge and Blues’ eyes will be peeled to see whether Dowell is involved. All the indications thus far suggest that he will be.
Dowell is due back in the Midlands next week with Rangers due to visit St George’s Park for a training camp.
What has Davies said?
Chris Davies wanted ‘a bit of craft’ from Dowell and the 27-year-old playmaker offered plenty of ingenuity in his 23 appearances for Blues, scoring five goals and creating another five.
He quickly established himself in Blues’ XI and started 21 times, despite joining a team that was already top of League One and progressing nicely in two cup competitions at the time.
Davies has admitted that he would like to explore the possibility of bringing Dowell to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park full-time.
“He’s definitely someone I have been really encouraged by since he’s come in and from my point of view I want players like that here,” Davies told BirminghamLive.
“My communication is always around that stuff with Craig (Gardner – director of football), squad management and planning and who I think can really help us, and I think Kieran has done really well.
“I don’t know the exact context of what’s happening there with him, but it’s definitely something we will have to look into.”
Dowell fits the profile
Blues are moving into the league Dowell has called home for the vast majority of his professional career. The midfielder has been promoted twice from the Championship before with Sheffield United and Norwich City and played in the second tier for Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Wigan Athletic.
Chris Davies likes to operate with a left-footed number 10 drifting in from the right wing and Dowell played the position perfectly last season.
He fits the profile Blues are looking for and, crucially, understands the way Davies wants to play.
What happens next?
Where Dowell and indeed Ben Davies are concerned, it is very much a waiting game. Both players are out of contract at Ibrox next summer, meaning this window represents Rangers’ best chance to recoup some cash for the pair of them.
Martin’s desire to take a closer look at Dowell could be sincere, or it could be due to Rangers not having yet signed their targets.
All the noises in the lead up to the transfer window suggested Dowell would be available this summer, but Blues are having to be patient whilst Martin makes his mind up.
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