Rangers 'need to sell players to balance accounts' after Champions League exit to Malmo

Michael Stewart says Rangers will need to sell players after their Champions League exit to Malmo. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The former Hibs, Hearts and Manchester United midfielder believes the failure to qualify for the group stages and the loss of the potential £30m windfall will require the Ibrox club to offload some of their star players.

Gers have a string of high-value assets with the likes of Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic and Glen Kamara all attracting interest and with the club posting an annual loss of £15.9m last November, Stewart reckons departures are now likely.

The BBC pundit tweeted: “Champions League money isn’t coming into Ibrox and surely that’ll mean they need to sell players to try and balance this years accounts. Which will obviously have an impact on the team on the pitch.”

Stewart commented after watching Steven Gerrard’s side crash out of the tournament at the third qualifying stage with a 2-1 second leg defeat to 10-man Malmo at Ibrox, which completed a 4-2 aggregate loss.

He added: “Hugely damaging and disappointing result for Rangers tonight. Malmö throughly deserved to go into the next round though. Rangers of last season would not have been beaten twice by Malmö. Concerning for Gerrard.”

Stewart also branded Connor Goldson “embarrassing” for the part the Rangers defender played in the red card for Malmo midfielder Bonke Innocent.

"That is never a second yellow card in a month of Sundays,” he posted. “Goldson is the one who catches Innocent but even that was nothing. For Goldson to go down is embarrassing.”

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