Former Manchester City and West Brom defender Kean Bryan has announced his retirement five years after Scottish Premiership giants Rangers backed out of a deal which could have set them back £2.5 million.
By Steven Gerrard’s own admission, Rangers’ interest in the talented young centre-half was very much more than idle paper talk.
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Kean Bryan, a one-time England youth international, had held talks over a move to Ibrox after impressing on loan at Oldham Athletic in 2017/18. According to the Scottish Sun, Rangers were even offering him a three-year contract which could have totalled £2.5 million.
And collapse of those negotiations came as a disappointment to Gerrard, Bryan eventually joining Sheffield United instead later in the window.
Rangers nearly signed former Manchester City defender Kean Bryan and now he is retired.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get an agreement with Kean,” the then-Rangers boss told BT Sport. “He wants to keep his options open and we respect that.
You can see quite clearly that we need a centre-back so that is definitely an area that we are trying to add in. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.”
The Gers would turn to Joe Worrall. The ex-Ibrox loanee now playing Premier League football below the border at Nottingham Forest.
Bryan, in contrast, is making the difficult decision to walk away from professional football at the age of just 27, a relentless series of fitness issues limiting him to just 22 league appearances since that aborted move to Glasgow five years back
Former Ibrox target retires
“I would like to announce my retirement from professional football,” Bryan writes on Instagram. “After two long years battling with my knee injury, unfortunately after medical advice, it’s time to say goodbye to the game of football.
“I look forward to the next chapter in my life. Thank you everyone for your support over the years.”
Bryan did not play a single game for West Brom in 2022/23 prior to his release.
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