McGregor expected to join Besiktas after Turks reveal talks with Scotland goalkeeper

Wednesday 11 July 2012

BESIKTAS expect Allan McGregor, the Scotland goalkeeper, to join their training camp a week today after the Turkish club confirmed that they are at an advanced stage in negotiations with the 30-year-old, who left Rangers after he refused to have his contract transferred to the new company.

Allan McGregor rejected the transfer of his contract to the newco

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A club official said that a proposed £4m move for David Ospina, Nice's Colombian internationalist goalkeeper, had collapsed and that McGregor – who remains in Scotland but is understood to be in dialogue with the Turks as well as at least two other interested clubs – was now the top target for the team who finished fourth in the Turkish league last season.

Ahmet Pipe is the chairman of the football committee at Besiktas and he said: "We wanted Ospina and we were in negotiations for over a month. However, the fees for the transfer kept changing and they were very high and we hardly had a chance to talk to him directly because he had so many representatives. In the circumstances, a transfer was too difficult."McGregor was next on our list of candidates and we had already negotiated with him. We have researched him and we know what house he wants, we have examined his lifestyle and his family structure. He's a very talented goalkeeper and we expect he will sign. We need a goalkeeper and we expect him to join our training camp in Austria on July 18."McGregor is one of the former Rangers players to reject the transfer of their contracts. Charles Green, the chairman of the newco, has refused to agree to any of the transfers, but FIFA are expected to grant temporary registration for the players until the issue is resolved.Dorin Goian, the Romania defender, claims he is "99% certain" he will see out the final two years of his Rangers contract. However, his agent appears to believe this applies only if the new club begins life in the first division.Goian said: "I will return to clarify the situation with the club. I am 99% certain to go back and play for Rangers. Rangers are too big a name in world football and they can not just disappear overnight. I adapted very well there, I feel very appreciated and I want to see out the two years left of my contract."However, Goian's agent, Florin Manea said: "I do not think Dorin wants to return home. He has a two-year contract with Rangers. If they remain in second league, Goian will still be there. If they get sent to the fourth league, Dorin is a free agent and will look at our options."Juanma Ortiz signed for Granada in La Liga yesterday. The Spanish midfielder was one of Ally McCoist's first signings but made only five starts before being loaned back to Almeria in Spain's second division. Almeria had offered to waive the £500,000 fee Rangers owe them if they could sign the 30-year-old on a permanent basis, but that deal fell through.Ortiz instead signed a two-year deal with Granada, and joins the list of Rangers exiles whose transfer is being contested by the newco.

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McGregor expected to join Besiktas after Turks reveal talks with Scotland goalkeeper

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