Rangers have won the race to sign Millwall teen sensation Zak Lovelace after Record Sport first revealed in January the Ibrox side were on the trail of the striker.
And the Light Blues have beaten a host of clubs to land the player who made his top-team debut in the Championship for the Lions at the age of just 15. He is the second youngest player to ever appear for the club and had to get permission from his school to play.
The frontman doesn’t turn 17 until January 2023 but has already made a handful appearances in English football’s second tier after his scoring exploits at youth level for the south Londoners. New Den boss Gary Rowett has frequently allowed Lovelace to train with the first team but, speaking earlier this year, admitted he was powerless to stop him leaving Millwall. English Premier League pair Leicester City and Brighton were just two of the top flight clubs linked with a move for him but Lovelace has reportedly informed Millwall that will join Rangers and can officially join the Ibrox club on July 1 when his registration finishes at the New Den.
Rowett said: “The club have made it clear that we would love Zak to be part of what we do next year and on a full-time basis. That’s our aim.
“There is an inevitability, unfortunately, that some of your better young players get poached by other clubs. To a certain degree those fees are a little bit out of your hands.
“For those type of players there is a structure in place with the likes of Premier League teams or other teams trying to sign those players.
“Until they have signed professional contracts you are always open to them coming in and pinching them, like they have with some of the other youngsters that have been well-documented over the years.
“The hope for us is always the same. We’ve got a plan for Zak to take steps to get into our first team. You’ve seen some of that plan developing perhaps a little bit quicker than we all anticipated but that was down, partly, to opportunity and his performances in training.”
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will now be hoping he can continue his meteoric rise and make it into his first team.
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