Rangers to return £34m Man Utd winger ‘at first opportunity’

Manchester United’s £34m winger Amad Diallo has been a flop on loan at Rangers and the Scottish club will be relieved to send him back at the end of the season.

Diallo has started just two games in the Scottish Premiership, scoring on his debut but then being substituted at half-time in the Old Firm derby in February. He has since played just 22 league minutes.

The Ivory Coast international – who joined United from Atalanta in 2021 – has not featured at all for Rangers in the Europa League and was even benched for the Scottish FA Cup clash with Dundee after starting in an earlier round against Annan Athletic.

Manchester United technical director Darren Fletcher said last month: “We currently have 13 young players and academy products on loan and playing regularly in other divisions or leagues.

“Hopefully we’ll see players like Brandon Williams, Teden Mengi, Jimmy Garner, Ethan Laird, Tahiti Chong, and Amad Diallo reap the benefits of that.

“All of them are doing really well on loan and we’re excited to bring them back in pre-season to see how they fare with our first-team players.”

While Garner has certainly, erm, garnered rave reviews at Manchester United, Diallo has not had the same impact in Scotland; Football Insider claim ‘the move has not worked out as planned and an Ibrox source has said that Diallo will be let go at the first opportunity’.

Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick says that the extent of his future consultancy role at Manchester United would depend on the club’s new manager.

The interim boss would not be drawn on reports that Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag had been lined up as the next permanent appointment at Old Trafford, saying his focus was purely on Saturday’s trip to relegation-battling Everton.

Rangnick was also