Jelavic to demand Ibrox let him go

Jelavic demands Rangers let him go

Nikica Jelavic will today demand to be allowed to move to Everton after the Premiership outfit launched a late bid to sign him before the transfer market shuts tomorrow.

According to Record Sport, Goodison boss David Moyes made his move yesterday when an official bid was tabled with Rangers for their top-scoring Croat.

It’s understood the opening offer fell as much as £3million short of the Ibrox club’s £8m valuation of the 27-year-old.

But Jelavic is determined to push a deal through and has told his advisers he will not take no for an answer.

The 27-year-old may even demand showdown talks with the club’s owner Craig Whyte today in an attempt to force the issue and open the door to a deadline-day move to Merseyside.

Moyes is a long-standing admirer of the man who moved to Rangers from Rapid Vienna for £4m in the summer of 2010. In fact, the Everton boss attempted to hijack that deal at the 11th hour but left it too late and lost his man to the SPL champs.

Now Moyes has money to spend again after selling Russia midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to Spartak Moscow for £5m.

Whyte, though, wants top dollar for his most valuable asset and last week turned down a bid from West Ham which could, over time, have been worth as much as £7m after add-ons.

Jelavic did not rock the boat over the collapse of his proposed move to the second tier of English football but sources close to the player were adamant he will not accept being priced out of a ticket to the Premiership so readily.

The insider said: “Nikica is very close to his agent and he has made it clear to him that Everton is the move he wants.

“Rangers could be left with a very unhappy player on their hands unless Craig Whyte is prepared to do a deal.”

As well as Jelavic, Juan Ortiz is also heading for the Ibrox exit. The Spanish flop could make a quick-fire return to the club from which Rangers signed him – Almeria.

Meanwhile, furious Honduran club Motagua have branded Rangers’ transfer dealings ABSURD – as Chinese outfit Changchun Yatai last night attempted to hijack Ally McCoist’s chances of landing Hamdi Salihi.

The cash-strapped Ibrox outfit have come under fire from the Hondurans after their failure to hand a deal to midfielder Jorge Claros.

Nicknamed The Pitbull, Claros spent two weeks at Murray Park trying to secure a contract and impressed McCoist.

However, the lack of money around the club meant no offer was made to the international star and he sloped off back to Central America.

Claros was left stunned and his club Motagua are raging at the treatment of their prized asset.

The Hondurans wanted around £800,000 for their player but sources at the club say Rangers offered less than half that amount.

President Pedro Atala said: “The truth is that Rangers offered an absurd amount for Claros. We made it clear from the start what we believed was a fair price.

“He is a very good player and deserves to be treated better than this.”

With Jelavic on the verge of being sold, McCoist is desperate for a striker to fill the void but has buttons to play with.

He wants Albanian Salihi – but he’s now the subject of a big-money offer from Asia. Changchun Yatai, where Ibrox flop Matt McKay spent a short time on loan, are willing to hand the Rapid Vienna attacker a chunky wage to go to China.