IT says everything about where Rangers and indeed Scottish football as a whole are that it is quite possible a player from the fourth tier of the English game may turn down the chance of a move to Ibrox next month.

And perhaps Josh Windass, son of Dean, star of Accrington Stanley in League Two and at 20 years of age seen as something of a rising star, will not see this switch as a step up.

Which, of course, it in fact would be given where Rangers should be playing next season.

However, the situation is what it is and by all accounts if Rangers manager Mark Warburton can persuade Windass and also his club team-mate Matt Crooks that a move to the Scottish Championship is the way forward for them, then he will have landed himself some more than decent footballers.

Dad Dean, formerly of Aberdeen, believes his boy will leave Accrington during the January transfer window but is being coy on the destination.

He said: "Josh is doing very well and there’s a lot of speculation. He’ll be away from Accrington in January. I don’t know where but there’s a lot of interest. You are always proud of your children and he’s scoring goals for fun.”

And that he is. Ask anyone who has watched Windass junior of late and they will tell you that he has a chance of being a seriously good player.

Accrington manager John Coleman claims that nobody will leave next month, but anything over £500,000 would be enough for the deals to be done.

As for Crooks, who has also been heavily linked to Rangers, his supposed move would be, according to those close to the club, far more straightforward if the Glasgow side can come up with funds.

And as always, the big question is whether Dave King and his board would stump up for two lads from, in old money, Division Four of the English League.

This is a club who once signed Paul Gascoigne. We live in odd times.

Windass, in an interview to the Football League Paper and admitted that when linked to other clubs in the last window, all the talk turned his head and he had learned a tough lesson.

He said: “It’s really nice to be linked to bigger clubs as it shows that people are appreciating what you’re doing on the pitch. However, it can have negative effects.

“You can take your mind off your game and spend more time listening to rumours and I think towards the end of the last transfer window I had a dip in form. Maybe I was thinking about that but I spoke to the gaffer and it all got wiped out of my head.”

If Windass does join Rangers then he may well do so at the same time his team-mate and friend Crooks makes the same move.

The 21-year-old Crooks is a defensive midfielder who it is said enjoys a tackle and therefore suited to the Scottish game. The two enjoy a good rapport. which bodes well if the transfers do go through..

Windass revealed: “Matt and I have been playing together since we were 14 at Huddersfield. When he came to Accrington I knew I already had a good relationship with him on the pitch as I know what he’s going to do when he’s on the ball.

“We have a great understanding and he sits just behind me on the pitch and we link up quite well, it’s like Tetris in the team sometimes when one player moves forward and the other drops in their place!

“With Crooksy also receiving interest, we spoke about it all and we agreed that it’s best to focus on stuff at Accrington and ignore all of the rumours flying about.”

Both Windass and Crooks are the sort of players Warburton tends to goes for in that they are young, raw and, let’s be honest, cheap.

Accrington Stanley might not be the biggest club in the world, however, they have a reputation for producing decent players and sit fourth in the league.

Not so long ago such players would not be good enough for Rangers, but in the here and now they might just work.

And as Windass himself said, the players at the Lancashire club do have ambition and a desire to get on, which is exactly the type Rangers need right now.

He said: “Everybody who is here is young, and that’s part of the success in my opinion. Everybody wants to make a career for themselves and we have something to prove in football.

“We all look towards the future and bettering ourselves; we have such a talented group of 18 and 19-year-olds who can’t break into the team, but would slot in seamlessly if a few of us moved on.

“We have no egos in the squad, just a bunch of lads that come in and just want to ping balls about and play football.”

And this is what Rangers need.