Aberdeen want compensation from Rangers before Derek McInnes talks

Rangers have been told to pay a compensation figure up front if they want to open talks with Derek McInnes. Picture: PA

The Daily Mail reports that, while Rangers are due to finally make an official approach for the former Ibrox star, Aberdeen will only give the talks the green light if Rangers pay the compensation package up front.

If talks break down then the Dons would return the sum to Rangers.

Sources close to Rangers have insisted that they have the cash to pay the compensation fee for both Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty, which would rise to more than £1 million if McInnes joined Rangers and took his No 2 with him.

• Fan’s view: There’s an unseemly side to McInnes saga

It has been nearly six full weeks since Pedro Caixinha departed Rangers, and McInnes again hit out at the Ibrox hierarchy for the way they have handled the saga after the Gers defeated Aberdeen for the second time in four days.

McInnes said: “I’m not happy with how things have been played out. It hasn’t been as straightforward as it should have been over the last few weeks.”

Despite making a statement insisting he was happy at Pittodrie and wasn’t seeking a move, speculation has continued to accumulate, with Aberdeen legend Willie Miller earleir this week branding it ‘ridiculous’ and ‘back with a vengeance’.

He said: “[The situation] has not allowed the managers and players to get on with the job in hand, without having this cloud of speculation and having to face the same questions over and over again,” said Miller.

“Rangers cannot allow the situation to drag on longer as it then makes the Ibrox board look like they don’t know what they are doing,” Miller added.