Kevin van Veen Motherwell transfer 'difficulty' revealed amid bold Rangers claims as striker's keen desire named

Interim Motherwell CEO Derek Weir has revealed Kevin van Veen's summer preference was to STAY in Scotland as the Dutchman is linked with a return to the Premiership.

The striker is likely to attract Scottish interest this window less than a year on from leaving a fruitful stint at Fir Park for Groningen in the Dutch second tier. While it was a move that took him back to his native Holland, van Veen's Scottish partner has given birth and he has been back in the country with his current employers not against him moving on.

He claimed a fortnight ago that Rangers were "still interested" in him after he claimed to reject their advances in the summer. Whether an official approach was ever made is unknown but Dutch sources have claimed there's no interest in the striker this month. But in an interview with Motherwell's YouTube channel, Weir has revealed that the move out of Scotland wasn't van Veen's priority.

He said: "That was a difficult situation. The CEO of Groningen arrived in my office in April and made it very clear they saw Kevin as key in their attempts to get back into the top tier of Dutch football.

"They were going to make him an offer of a great contract. We went through a fairly lengthy process of us declining offers and finally we accepted one. The difficulty in that one was Kevin's personal circumstances, which have been well-trailed, were that he was quite keen to remain in Scotland.

"We did make him an offer but the reality of the situation was we couldn't get anywhere close. If he isn't on at least double what our highest-paid player is on, I would be very surprised."