Rangers are asking too much for Nikica Jelavic, says Sam Allardyce

RANGERS chairman Craig Whyte's determination to achieve his full valuation for the sale of Nikica Jelavic will be tested to the full as the transfer window closes today.

Whyte remained in contact with both Everton and West Ham United yesterday, both of whom have made enquiries about the Croatian international striker but have so far baulked at the price tag of around £8 million placed on him by the Rangers owner.

The January trading period comes to an end at 11pm tonight for both English and Scottish Premier League clubs and it remains to be seen how firm Whyte will stay in his attempt to secure what he regards as the optimum income for Jelavic.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce last night indicated that his club will not be doing any business with Rangers unless Whyte lowers the price.

“If I'm led to believe where it is at the moment, for us it was too expensive,” Allardyce told Sky Sports News.

“Too expensive – full stop.” Asked if the club had dropped their interest in the striker, he replied: “Yes.”

Jelavic returned to training at Murray Park yesterday, having missed Rangers’ 4-0 win over Hibs at Ibrox on Saturday because of a virus which had seen him absent from the club’s training ground since last Wednesday. It is believed the 26-year-old would welcome a move to Everton, having been less enthusiastic about the prospect of joining Championship side West Ham, who had a reported offer worth £7 million for him turned down by Rangers last week.

Rangers’ perilous financial situation, with the outcome of the HMRC tax case against them still pending, means the sale of their most valuable playing asset this month has been widely anticipated.

But the brinkmanship involved could yet see Jelavic remain with the club for the rest of the season, an outcome which would clearly be welcomed by Rangers manager Ally McCoist as he attempts to retain the SPL title.

The Everton manager David Moyes, speaking at his media conference ahead of tonight’s game against Manchester City, refused to either confirm or deny his interest in Jelavic.

“I never talk about players at other clubs, I wouldn’t do that,” said Moyes. “I don’t like it and I didn’t like it when I was a player and I kept hearing there were other centre-halves coming in to take my position. I wouldn’t talk about players at other clubs. If there was any news I would give it to you. You will need to wait until midnight tomorrow night and then we will let you know what is happening.”

There was a mischievous element to Moyes’ response to questions yesterday as he gently ridiculed the level of speculation in his homeland surrounding Jelavic. “It is a strange place that Scotland,” added Moyes with a smile. “I don’t know what they do up there. They talk about anything up there.”

Moyes did confirm he does want to add another fresh face to his squad before the deadline. He has already completed a loan deal for American midfielder Landon Donovan and the permanent signing of Irish midfielder Darron Gibson from Manchester United this month, while the Goodison club have sold Russian striker Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to Spartak Moscow for a fee believed to be in the region of £5 million.

“I said probably a month ago that I would hope to bring two or three players in during the window, so the answer to that is yes,” added Moyes.

“I don’t think it will be that difficult (doing a deal on a day when Everton have a game to play). There are people at the club, so if there was business to be done I am sure they will be able to do it. They don’t desperately need me, but it’ll be eight o’clock by kick-off so there will be very little time to go.”

The biggest concern for McCoist would be an eleventh hour sale of Jelavic, leaving him with little or no time to secure a replacement. With Kyle Lafferty, Steven Naismith and Kane Hemmings all currently sidelined by injury, veteran Northern Ireland international David Healy is the only other striker at McCoist’s disposal.

Having missed out on Polish international Pawel Brozek to Celtic over the weekend, McCoist remains interested in Rapid Vienna’s Albanian forward Hamdi Salihi but time constraints make any move for him appear unlikely.

Rangers did free up one salary slot in McCoist’s first team squad yesterday when Spanish winger Juan Manuel Ortiz flew home with a view to joining Almeria on loan for the rest of the season. Ortiz was McCoist’s first signing as Rangers manager last summer but has failed to hold down a regular first team place.