An update has emerged on Rangers forward Kai Kennedy, regarding West Ham's interest in his services.
What's the talk?
According to Football Insider, Rangers have rejected a second bid from West Ham for winger Kai Kennedy as they look to keep hold of the youngster.
The 19-year-old is under contract at Ibrox until 2023 and has now been called up for first-team training with Steven Gerrard's side in an attempt to dissuade him from wanting a Premier League transfer.
Fans will be delighted
Rangers fans will be delighted by this news as it shows a willingness from the club to dig in and retain their best talents. Kennedy is a young prospect who could be a future first-team star and Ross Wilson has made it clear that he will not allow him to leave easily by rejecting two offers from the Hammers.
If the Premier League side are going to sign Kennedy this summer then they are going to need to shell out big money to land him, as shown by their two opening bids being turned down.
Rangers do not need to worry about his contract situation this summer, as he still has two years left to run, which means that they can demand as much as they like for the forward.
Fans will be happy about this because the attacker is a prospect who could have the potential to make an impact in the first team.
Inverness boss John Robertson heaped praise on the young winger last year and called him a “crowd-pleaser”. The Scottish coach said that he excites him with his direct play on the ball out wide whilst he was on loan there.
“He beats people for fun and gets out of tight situations – he’s a crowd-pleaser.
“Even in training when we see him getting the ball, he excites us. He goes past players and we think he’s going to lose it, then the next minute he wriggles away and he has created something.
“Kai at times looks like a wee ragamuffin as he just bounces about, but he goes past people and excites people. That’s the type of player we wanted to come."
The 19-year-old managed two goals and five assists for Inverness and Raith Rovers combined last season during two separate loan spells in the Championship. This is a valuable experience for the teenager and shows that he can already make contributions in the second tier despite his age.
Therefore, he could have the potential to improve further and become a key figure in Gerrard's side moving forward, which is why fans will be delighted with Wilson's approach to West Ham's interest so far.
Hopefully, he can continue to ward off unreasonable offers and either keep hold of Kennedy or receive a sizeable fee for his services.
AND in other news, Time to go: Rangers must ruthlessly axe £9k-p/w “warrior”, Gerrard doesn't need him...