RANGERS have earmarked the Hungarian defender who helped to end Berti Vogts' Scotland reign as the man to solve their troublesome left wing-back slot.
Szabolcs Huszti, 21, of Ferencvaros, who scored twice in Hungary's 3-0 friendly win over Scotland last March, is being lined up for a summer move to Ibrox as Alex McLeish prepares for the departure of on-loan Liverpool defender Gregory Vignal.
Vignal has already rejected two contract offers and seems certain to leave in the summer with the club resisting his calls for improved terms. Marseille are favourites to seal the Frenchman's signature, and with Michael Ball also nearing the exit door, McLeish has pinpointed Huszti as a longterm replacement.
Rated as one of a resurgent Hungary's most promising talents, Huszti has been a regular on the international scene since German legend Lothar Matthaus took over 14 months ago.
English Premiership strugglers West Bromwich Albion failed to sign Huszti in the January transfer window. He is out of contract in June, and although his Budapest club are entitled to compensation as he is under 23, it will be nowhere near the pounds-1 million Ferencvaros were publicly demanding last month to release him early.
Huszti said: "I have heard there is some interest from Rangers in me. My objective is to play in the UK and Rangers would be a good option.
"I have fond memories of Scotland because I scored two goals there in one of my first games for Hungary. I like the people, I like the country and most importantly I like the football. It is very similar in style to the English game."
Ferencvaros coach Lazslo Csaba said: "I have heard that Rangers are watching Huszti and I'm not surprised. He is the sort of player who would attract interest from a lot of top sides.
"He is young, he has a big talent and I hope he can make a big career for himself."
Michael Ball has started the last three games in that position, including yesterday's Hibernian clash. However, the former Everton and England defender's future remains unclear.
McLeish said: "The left back position is there. Gregory has played very well and he would be entitled to think that he had earned the right to be first choice there. We just so happen to have a quality player like Michael Ball there as well.
"But Gregory's form has been very, very good and the only reason I changed it a couple of weeks ago was to give Michael some much needed match practice, and then we decided to go with Gregory on the left side of midfield for the cup tie because we had a bit of a problem with injured personnel, .
"We haven't offered anything else to Gregory. We haven't been talking."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article