Premiership club offer ex Celtic star training facilities as Rangers defender at centre of transfer battle

The Scottish Premiership is back this weekend with Rangers manager Philippe Clement taking charge of his first matches against Hibernian at Ibrox on Saturday, and leaders Celtic travel East along the M8 to face Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.

A former Hoops winger remains a free agent and is hoping to win a deal with Kilmarnock after taking part in training, while a Rangers defender is at the centre of a transfer battle. Here’s a look at some of the latest news updates and rumours surrounding both Glasgow sides on Friday, October 20.

Premiership club offer ex Celtic star training facilities

Former Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts winger Gary Mackay-Steven could be offered a career lifeline by one of his previous bosses at fellow Premiership side Kilmarnock.

The twice-capped Scotland international remains a free agent after leaving the Jambos upon the expiry of his contract in the summer. The 33-year-old has been on the hunt for a new club ever since and was still using the Tynecastle club’s training facilities in order to maintain his fitness.

But he now hopes to earn a deal at Rugby Park after spending the last fortnight training with Derek McInnes’ side. Mackay-Steven worked under McIness at Aberdeen and will be eager to convince his old boss that he’s worthy of being handed a contract.

Mackay-Steven’s two-year spell in Gorgie proved disappointing as he struggled to nail down a regular place in the team and spent a lengthy period on the sidelines recovering from a foot injury last term.

Explaining the decision to offer him training facilities, McInnes stated: “He’s been in this week and last weel. I’ve worked with Gary at Pittodrie before. I spoke to his agent in the summer and he was still come back from his foot injury at Hearts. I asked him about Gary’s situation in the summer. He just said he had a bit of a setback with the operation on his foot. He had work to do to get that sorted.

“Gary’s been in at Hearts training even though he’s not under contract there. Then a couple of weeks ago he reached out to me and asked for training facilities, and we were glad to help him. I need to say, he’s been terrific. He’s trained every day. Gary looks good and he’s shown his qualities. We’re really pleased to get him in and help him out, but it is just a case of that at the minute, nothing more than that.

“It’s still early days for Gary to be thinking about anything. It’s helping him out and getting him back to fitness. He still has that quality, and I look at him and still think he’s the same young boy I had at Pittodrie. His talent has never been in doubt and he has looked terrific in training. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on him. The two of us have been pretty relaxed about it.”

Rangers defender at centre of transfer battle

Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb could be ready to tempt Rangers left-back Borna Barisic back to his homeland amid interest from English Premier League club Nottingham Forest.

The 30-year-old - signed by Steven Gerrard in 2018 from Prva Liga side NK Osijek - has been a first-team regular under four different managers at Ibrox, starting over 200 games in all competitions. He has managed to keep Ridvan Yilmaz out of the team but with his contract expiring at the end of the season, it seems only a matter of time before Barisic decides to move on from the Glasgow giants.

Reports had linked him with a move to Forest earlier this week - and new claims suggest that a deal could be a ‘formality’. Croatian outlet Nogometne Vijesti report the door is open for Dinamo to make their move in January to land the player’s signature.

It is understood Rangers remain hopeful of agreeing a new deal with Barisic to end any speculation.