Rangers Pursue Josh Windass for Third Time as Wrexham Resists

Rangers are back at the door for Josh Windass. Again.

According to talkSPORT, the Ibrox club have now formalised their interest in the Wrexham forward ahead of the summer window, marking a third attempt to bring him back to Glasgow. They know exactly what they’re chasing: a player who wore the shirt 73 times between 2016 and 2018 and has since grown into a ruthless, seasoned attacker.

This time, there’s a familiar face leading the charge. New Rangers manager Danny Rohl is driving the pursuit, leaning on a relationship forged at Sheffield Wednesday, where Windass thrived under his watch. Fifty goals in that spell tell their own story. Rohl has seen first-hand how to build an attack around him, and he clearly believes the 30-year-old can be the cornerstone of a badly needed rebuild at Ibrox.

Wrexham’s star, though, is in no rush to leave the Hollywood project that has turned the Racecourse Ground into one of the EFL’s most watched stages.

Speaking earlier this month about his future, Windass reminded everyone where he stands. “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 told talkSPORT. That doesn’t sound like a man angling for the exit.

Wrexham’s stance backs that up. The club knocked back a formal approach from Rangers in January and remain determined to protect their Player of the Season from circling suitors. They have every reason to be stubborn.

Windass has just delivered a historic campaign: 16 Championship goals, a club record for a single season, plus five assists across 41 league games. He’s the focal point, the difference-maker, and he is tied down until 2028. That contract length hands the Red Dragons enormous leverage. Any deal, if it ever gets that far, will be on their terms.

For now, transfer specialist Ben Jacobs reports that no official club-to-club negotiations have begun. Interest is real. Talks, at this stage, are not.

The need at Rangers, though, is urgent. A third-place finish in the Scottish Premiership, behind Celtic and Hearts, has sharpened minds in the Ibrox boardroom. An attack that too often misfired is being ripped up and reimagined.

Windass sits near the top of that wish list, but he is not the only name. Rangers are already in advanced discussions to land Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland, the league’s most reliable goalscorer over the past two seasons. Land both, and Rohl walks into the new campaign with a completely different frontline.

Across the border, Wrexham’s ownership see a very different picture. With momentum building and the Championship play-offs narrowly out of reach this term, they are preparing a squad to go again. Letting their most productive forward leave for anything resembling a cut-price fee would run against everything they have built.

So the stage is set. A manager who trusts Windass, a club that wants him back for a third time, and a rising EFL force determined not to sell.

Who blinks first: the club that needs goals, or the one already built around them?