By Kurtis Leyland
Rangers are hoping to add much needed leadership and experience to their defence with the signing of 10-time England international Conor Coady from Leicester City. Glasgow World understands talks between the Championship side and Rangers are at an 鈥榓dvanced stage鈥 and there is a growing feeling from transfer insiders that the deal could be confirmed before the end of the week. Coady has been one of Rangers鈥 priority targets throughout the summer, with sporting director Kevin Thelwell having great knowledge of the Liverpudlian after working with him at both Wolves and Everton earlier in his career. It鈥檚 a signing which appears to make a lot of sense from a Rangers perspective and most importantly as confirmed by Jermain Defoe, he is 鈥榢een鈥 on making the move to Glasgow and is excited at the prospect of trying to knock Celtic off their perch in next year鈥檚 title race. Coady is expected to have a point to prove next season after suffering the first relegation of his professional career with the Foxes last term. However, that hasn鈥檛 stopped former Scotland international Kevin Gallacher from tipping him to have a top career in Glasgow, with the ex-Newcastle United man even tipping him to potentially surpass the achievements of Celtic stalwart Cameron Carter-Vickers. Kevin Gallacher believes Conor Coady has all the qualities to be a roaring success with the Light Blues. When writing for the Sunday Post, he said: “I fancy Conor Coady, Rangers’ big signing target, could do even better in Scotland than Cameron Carter-Vickers has at Celtic. “At 32 years old, he is a very experienced central defender. He has 10 England caps and, when you look at the central defenders of his era, that marks him out as being very good. Some people would argue he is a gamble in terms of his age, but I am a believer that age is just a number.鈥 Coady was last capped for England in 2022 and has experienced a slight fall from grace after going from being Wolves captain to a member of a Leicester team being relegated with weeks to spare. However, Gallacher insists he鈥檚 still got what it takes to thrive in Glasgow. He added: “He is maybe losing a tiny bit of pace, but he gets the job done. He is a proper defender, a leader, an organiser who can have the back line working together as one. If there was a question about Coady it would not be over his ability. “What I would not be sure about is his hunger. Does he have the drive to come up to a new environment and impose himself on the game up here? That’s what Rangers will need him to do. “I mentioned Carter-Vickers at the start because that has got to be benchmark. Ange Postecoglou brought him up to Celtic, initially on a season-long loan from Tottenham, who had farmed him out half-a-dozen times before that. “He found his home at Celtic Park, with his permanent deal suiting both parties very well, not least because of all the trophies they have won since he has been there. That will need to be the goal for Coady at Ibrox.” Rangers are hoping to revolutionise their backline after ending the season with their worst defensive record since 2017/18. And another name that could arrive through the doors is promising Peterborough United defender Emmanuel Fernandez following his EFL Trophy triumph with the Posh. Commenting on speculation, Kevin Gallacher added: “Another who could well be heading to Ibrox, albeit as a quite different type of recruit is Emmanuel Fernandez, of Peterborough. “He is just 23 and was in non-league football not so long ago having been released by Gillingham as an under-18. “Since then, he has worked his way back up to Peterborough’s first team and we all know there some amazing stories of players putting early rejection behind them to go on to remarkable things in the game. “I would say Fernandez is looking at a bit of a jump up in standard as he has been playing League One, but he might go onto shine. Do that and he might earn himself a move back down the road at a higher level. Scotland can work as a shop window that way.鈥 He went on to compare the 23-year-old鈥檚 skillset to that of Calvin Bassey and claimed the transfer could propel him onto better things in the same way. “Again, it is easy to think of an example, with Calvin Bassey the perfect pick-up. He came up from Leicester, where he had been a regular for the Under-18 and Under-23 sides, excelled in the Rangers’ first team and then was sold to Ajax for 拢20 million.Now in the Premier League at Fulham, he was the London club’s player of the year last season.” Read More: The ‘no-brainer’ Celtic transfer move for 71-goal striker that has Rangers legend ‘worried