Wednesday 4 February 2015 10:03, UK
Rangers have completed the signings of five Newcastle players on loan for the remainder of the season.
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is a shareholder at Rangers – with a 8.92% stake – and Sports Direct - part owned by Ashley - recently agreed a £10m loan deal to the club.
And Newcastle quiintet Haris Vuckic from Slovenia, English defender Remie Streete, Burundi-born Gael Bigirimana, Swiss defender Kevin Mbabu and Northern Ireland international winger Shane Ferguson have now joined the Ibrox club until the end of the campaign.
For me it was the most important thing to play football, and to play in Rangers a massive club who are pushing to be in the Premier League.
The Newcastle website reported: "Burundi-born Bigirimana, aged 21, joined United from Coventry in July 2012 and has made 26 first team appearances for the Magpies.
"This season he has been a mainstay of Peter Beardsley's table-topping U21 side. Ferguson, 23, has been sidelined this campaign so far after suffering a knee injury in the early part of the season.
"The 17-times capped Northern Ireland international, who has 32 first-team games for Newcastle under his belt, spent the majority of last season on loan at Birmingham City.
"Nineteen-year-old Mbabu is a Switzerland U19 international who has yet to make the breakthrough to first team football but has impressed with a number of confident defensive displays at second-string level.
"Streete made his Football League debut with Port Vale earlier this season. The 20-year-old centre half has been on the bench for the first team this term but has yet to make his senior bow for United.
"Vuckic is a 22-year-old Slovenian with one full international cap, which came against Scotland in 2012, to his name. He has made 32 first team appearances for the Magpies, scoring once, since making his debut back in August 2009."
'Opportunity to grow'
Commenting on his move north, Bigirimana said: "This was an opportunity for us to grow in another country where they play a different style of football and to get matches under our belts.
"For us individually, we saw it as an opportunity to help this club get back where it belongs. If we can be part of that, it will be unbelievable for our futures."
Vuckic admits he is using the loan move to enhance his chances of breaking into the starting XI at St James' Park next season.
"I actually want to be part of the first team at Newcastle and push on," he said. "I spoke to the gaffer at Newcastle and he told me I wasn't in his plans at the moment and that it would be better for me to go and play some first-team football as people will forget you quickly if you don't play.
At the Premier League it's not easy so we have come here to help the team get promoted and help everyone in the long run.
"So for me it was the most important thing to play football, and to play in Rangers a massive club who are pushing to be in the Premier League."
And Streete admits the chance to be involved in regular top-team football for the remaining months of the season was one he could not turn down.
"The one thing I was missing at Newcastle was playing with the first team every week," he said. "All the lads will say the same now. We are all past under-21 football now and we are pushing to get into the first team.
"At the Premier League it's not easy so we have come here to help the team get promoted and help everyone in the long run."
