Rangers agree deal with Brighton to sign Jamie Murphy on permanent contract

Monday 14 May 2018 15:30, UK

Rangers have agreed a deal in principle to sign Jamie Murphy from Brighton.

The club's director of football Mark Allen confirmed the development at a news conference on Monday to introduce new signing Scott Arfield from Burnley.

Murphy joined Rangers on loan in January, with the Scottish Premiership club given the option of making the move permanent at the end of the season.

It is understood Rangers sought a long-term deal in January but Brighton preferred to wait until the summer.

When asked if an initial agreement had been reached for Murphy, Allen said: "Yes, there is."

Speaking more generally about the club's loan players, he added: "No final decisions have been made. We owe the courtesy to those players and to their football clubs to be speaking with them first."

Allen has been in contact with new Rangers boss Steven Gerrard about the club's transfer developments and refused to rule out a major squad shake-up.

Asked if there was likely to be a number of changes this summer, Allen said: "We will see. What I can say is the manager [Steven Gerrard] is fully conversable with this signing.

"It was part of my conversations with him prior to joining. He was made fully aware of the target players and he was more than happy to endorse Scott. The signing comes with the manager's blessing.

"There is a fair bit of work to be done, there is no secret to that.

"We begin today with the announcement [of signing Scott Arfield] and we will see what manifests itself over the coming months."