Rangers close in on Shittu after Watford agree to talks

DANNY Shittu is poised to sign for Rangers after Watford opened talks with the Ibrox club over yesterday's increased £1.5million bid.

Vicarage Road chairman Graham Simpson, who claimed on Monday that Shittu would stay, appeared to give in yesterday afternoon after Rangers upped their earlier £1.2m offer. The clubs are in final negotiations over the £1.5m price, with centre-back Shittu, 27, expected to agree personal terms over the weekend.

The defender, who has impressed for Championship play-off semi-finalists Watford, will opt for Rangers ahead of a late offer from Turkey – understood to be from Fenerbahce or Galatasaray.

Shittu, whose main motivation for the move is to play Champions League football, is privately keen to test himself at a big club after dropping into the Championship with Watford.

He was a £1.6million buy from QPR two years ago and established himself as a mainstay of manager Aidy Boothroyd's defence at Vicarage Road.

The 6ft 3in Nigerian, a man mountain at 15st, believes his performances in the African Nations Cup proved he is able to compete at the highest level.

His ambition to leave Watford seemed destined to fail earlier this week when chairman Simpson insisted: "Danny is still with us and that's the way it is staying."

However, the lure of a £1.5m cash influx to fund the new season's promotion bid forced Simpson's hand – and Shittu is now set for his dream move north of the border.

Celtic were also keen, as were Sunderland, but Shittu had made it clear he preferred Rangers, a fact which is expected to usher through agreement on personal terms without further delay – once the clubs have ironed out minor differences over his £1.5m price.

Shittu had been due to report for pre-season training with Watford on Monday, but his workout is now set to be taking place in Glasgow.

Rangers, however, were dealt a blow yesterday when they learned that captain Barry Ferguson will be out of action for up to four months with an ankle injury, and there was more bad news from the training ground as it emerged Steven Smith will also miss the pre-season preparations in Holland and Germany, again with an ankle injury.

The 22-year-old suffered a minor knock and should be out for around a week as he bids to re-establish himself in the first team after pelvic and groin problems restricted him to two appearances in 18 months.

Meanwhile, summer signing Kyle Lafferty has spoken of his intention to become a first-team regular at Ibrox in his debut season.

The 20-year-old is one of three forwards brought to Ibrox this summer for a combined total of around £7million, alongside Kenny Miller and Andrius Velicka.

"I don't really want to play two or three games at a time then get dropped for a couple as well," he told Rangers News.

"Whenever I'm not in the team, I'll watch the other players in my position to see what they do. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up stuff from them."