Micky Beale has lost out in the race for Auston Trusty with the defender signing for Sheffield United in a £5m deal.
The United States internationalist was on loan at Birmingham last season where he caught the attention of Beale but with a proper fee involved the Ibrox club played it safe by bringing in Leon Balogun on a 12 month deal.
So far Balogun and ‘former Chelsea star’ Dujon Sterling are the only new defenders brought in during the current window with Ben Davies, Ridvan Yilmaz and Borna Barisic still at the club.
Trusty was one of the first names that was linked with a place in the Summer Revolution but an offer of £2m was never going to bring Arsenal to the negotiating table.
After signing Kieran Dowell, Sterling and Jack Butland, Beale came up with his first transfer fee when Sam Lammers was signed from Atalanta after a couple of disastrous spells out on loan.
Arsenal paid around £2m for Trusty from Colorado Rapids in January 2021, loaned him back to the MLS side then on to Birmingham last season. Without having played a game the Gunners have sold him on for a profit which sounds much like Ben Davies’ career at Liverpool.
Official: Auston Trusty to Sheffield Utd on £5m deal from Arsenal 🔴🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/4PTdJ5h7b3
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 3, 2023
Trusty should get plenty of opportunities to impress at Sheffield United who are tipped for a sharp return to The Championship.
Meanwhile Beale has to assess his walking wounded and decide who will be the least risk to use on the plastic pitch at Kilmarnock on Saturday ahead of the Champions League qualifier against Servette four days later.
Connor Goldson hasn’t played since suffering a foot injury in May although he did put in an appearance at the MyGers Training Day earlier this week.
John Souttar and Ben Davies missed the final warm up match away to Hoffenheim on Saturday through illness with Balogun picking up a injury against the German.
Untried wonderboy Johnly Yfeko played in defence against Hoffenheim with John Lundstram dropping back once Balogun was crocked.
Trusty was pencilled in to provide more flexibility at the back but with no interest in Davies, Beale has had to put his defensive plans on hold. A year ago £4m was spent on the ‘former Liverpool star’.
So far Beale has spent around £13m to bring in eight new players with Jose Cifuentes expected to take that to £14m. Antonio Colak’s move to Parma is the only fee brought in with the first team squad now numbering around 30.
The inability to sell players has resulted in missing out on Trusty while being lumbered with £9m in unwanted goods consisting of Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz. When the Rabbi Matondo fee from last summer is added in the wastage really starts to pile up.
The matches against Sevette over the next two midweeks will go a long way towards shaping the season at Ibrox, success provides at least £5m for reaching the Play Off stage of the Champions League while defeat would open up question marks of the rookie boss after being given the funds to overhaul the team with 11 new signings since the turn of the year.
Defeat from Servette will still ensure a place in the Europa League group stage but there will be no gate money from a Europa League play off tie.
In August 2018 Ibrox fans swamped Glasgow Airport to celebrate their heroes beating Ufa in aggregate to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League for the very first time.
Auston Trusty ‘wanted’ for Rangers transfer as Michael Beale eyes £2m deal for Arsenal and USA starhttps://t.co/ju68hlDsim pic.twitter.com/yHhKe61dod
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) May 8, 2023
Rangers ‘keen’ on Auston Trusty transfer from EPL outfit as Michael Beale gets set for busy summer https://t.co/NPYY8KD7MT
— Glasgow Live Sport (@GlLiveSport) May 8, 2023
