Rangers fear they could be outbid in Kenny Miller chase

Miller moved to the Turkish Super League club in January after failing to agree terms for an extension to his contract at Rangers which had just six months to run at that stage.

Despite scoring five times in his 15 appearances for Bursaspor and earning the approval of the club's support, Miller has found it difficult to adapt to his new lifestyle and is understood to be eager for a return to the UK.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist has confirmed his interest in bringing the 31-year-old Scotland international back to Ibrox where he was a significant success during his second spell at the club following a 2 million move from Derby County in June 2008.

Miller, who experienced a less fulfilling 18-month period with Rangers first time around when they signed him from Hibs for 2million back in 2000, is believed to be enthusiastic about the prospect of working under McCoist again.

But it is thought several English clubs are also interested in the player, most of them able to offer him a considerably more lucrative salary than Rangers, who have already lost out on transfer targets Craig Conway and Neil Danns to Championship outfits this summer. Miller earns in the region of 40,000 a week at Bursaspor and, while willing to take an inevitable drop to return to Britain, he is acutely aware he can earn more in England than at Ibrox.

"I'm sure there are clubs in England interested in him and he'd probably get nearer the money he'd be looking for down there," admitted McCoist.

"Kenny has never been out of my thoughts. He is a player who did very well for us. He is a good lad and gets on well with everyone here. I wouldn't rule anyone out and I certainly wouldn't rule Kenny Miller out.

"But I haven't spoken to him to any degree or great length about it because he is obviously still under contract at Bursaspor. Kenny ticks all the boxes in terms of what we're looking for but, to be fair, we're looking at a few who tick all the boxes."

Miller still has two years of his contract to run at Bursaspor and club director Erkan Kamat appeared to suggest Rangers will need to pay more than the cut-price fee of 400,000 they received for the player six months ago. But Kamat, quoted by STV, did not discount the possibility of selling Miller.

"If the circumstances are right, if things are good, and the conditions are correct, then why not?" Kamat said. "But Rangers have to pay serious money, a good transfer fee. If Rangers are opening the door, we can maybe settle something. It can happen but it is not just a case of opening the door, it's not that easy.

"At the moment I am not talking about his valuation. We will see what Rangers want to do. I will have to make a plan. I can't say anymore just now. I will meet Kenny tomorrow, and then we will have a clearer picture." Meanwhile, Rangers expect a tough challenge when they take on Bayer Leverkusen tonight. Having lost the opening two games on their German trip to lower league sides Sportfreunde Lotte and Bochum, McCoist's men now turn their attention to a side who finished second in the Bundesliga last season and who have former Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack in their squad.

Striker Steven Naismith is confident Rangers will raise their game, although he believes the most important friendlies are yet to come. "The Leverkusen game is definitely one that excites you," Naismith told the club's website. "The two games we have out here have been quality but I'm sure Leverkusen will provide our toughest test yet. We'll have to tighten up at the back and, hopefully, we can get off the mark ourselves by scoring goals as well.

"Lotte and Bochum are a few games ahead of us in terms of their preparation and maybe that showed. The results have been disappointing and the goals we have lost have been slack, but now is the time to make these mistakes.

"The manager has gone over the games and looked at where we went wrong so we know what we need to do. In saying that, all the players got 45 minutes against Lotte and, when you make that many changes at half-time, it definitely disrupts the team," Naismith continued.

"Bochum were sharper than us but again they had played six or seven matches prior to facing us. We have definitely benefited from our two games in terms of the running we have had to do and already we are looking stronger.

"The game against Leverkusen will be the next step in our pre-season training although the most important matches will be the ones coming up once we get back home from Germany.

"That's when we will have to start building a bit of momentum before our opening SPL fixture against Hearts."