Rangers Pursue Windass Again – Wrexham Holds the Leverage

Rangers are back at a familiar door, and this time they’re knocking loudly.

According to talkSPORT, the Ibrox club have formalised their interest in Wrexham forward Windass ahead of the summer window, launching a fresh attempt to bring him back to Glasgow. It is not a new storyline. This is the third time Rangers have tried to re-sign a player who wore their colours 73 times between 2016 and 2018.

The difference now? The man leading the charge knows exactly what he’s chasing.

Danny Rohl is driving the move, keen to reshape a misfiring attack after a flat third-place finish behind Celtic and Hearts in the Scottish Premiership. Rohl worked with Windass at Sheffield Wednesday, where the forward thrived under his guidance, scoring 50 goals and evolving into a prolific, versatile attacker. Rohl has seen first-hand what Windass can do in a system built around his instincts. That memory is clearly informing Rangers’ strategy.

But while Rangers circle, Wrexham are in no mood to sell.

Windass has just been crowned Wrexham’s Player of the Season after a standout campaign that bordered on historic. He delivered a club-record 16 Championship goals, added five assists, and did it across 41 league appearances. Those numbers don’t just make him valuable. They make him central to everything Wrexham are trying to build.

The forward’s contract runs until 2028, and that detail changes the entire dynamic. It hands the Welsh club immense leverage at the negotiating table and strips Rangers of any hope of a bargain. Transfer specialist Ben Jacobs reports that formal talks between the clubs have not yet begun, but Wrexham’s stance is already clear in their actions.

They have said “no” before.

In January, Rangers made a formal move mid-season. Wrexham rejected it and held their line, determined to keep their prize asset while they chased their own ambitions. The message then was blunt: Windass is not available on the cheap, and he is not available on their timeline.

The player himself has hardly been pushing for the exit.

Speaking to talkSPORT earlier this month about his future, Windass pointed firmly towards North Wales, not Glasgow. “Yeah, I signed a three-year deal in the summer. I feel like I had a really good year this year, and yeah, hopefully next year we can go one better,” he said. That is not the language of a man agitating for a move. It is the sound of someone invested in a project.

And what a project it is. Backed by Hollywood ownership and fuelled by a fanbase that has ridden every twist of the club’s resurgence, Wrexham are building towards the Championship play-offs. They fell just short this season, but the gap is narrow and the plan is clear: strengthen, not dismantle. Letting their standout forward leave now would cut against everything they have been preaching.

The tension sits right there, between ambition and opportunity.

Rangers, stung by finishing behind Hearts as well as Celtic, are under pressure to respond. An attacking overhaul is coming. Windass is one of the marquee names on the list, but he is not the only one. The club are already in advanced negotiations for Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland, a move that underlines the urgency at Ibrox to add guaranteed goals and leadership to the front line.

Shankland plus Windass would represent a dramatic shift in Rangers’ attacking profile. One a proven scorer in Scotland, the other a creative, hard-running forward who can operate across the line and drop into pockets. It is the kind of double move that can transform a season, not just tweak it.

But every transfer window has its hard reality. Someone has to sell.

From Wrexham’s perspective, the timing could hardly be worse for a buyer. Windass is at peak influence, tied down long-term, adored by supporters and integral to a squad aiming to climb again next season. The club’s ownership, ambitious and unapologetically bullish in their outlook, are unlikely to entertain cut-price offers when they are trying to build a group capable of finally cracking the play-offs.

So Rangers push. Wrexham resist. Windass, for now, stays focused on the project that made him a star of their season.

The question is not whether Rangers want him. That part is obvious. The question is how far they are willing to go – and how high Wrexham will force the price – before one of them finally blinks.