{"id":46652,"date":"2026-05-02T20:23:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/report-aston-villa-plan-to-sign-highly-rated-midfielder-for-free\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T20:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:23:44","slug":"report-aston-villa-plan-to-sign-highly-rated-midfielder-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/report-aston-villa-plan-to-sign-highly-rated-midfielder-for-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Aston Villa plan to sign highly-rated midfielder for free"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/report-aston-villa-plan-to-sign-highly-rated-midfielder-for-free\/#Aston_Villa_aim_to_sign_Bailey_Rice_on_free_transfer\" >Aston Villa aim to sign Bailey Rice on free transfer<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/report-aston-villa-plan-to-sign-highly-rated-midfielder-for-free\/#Who_is_Rangers_young_star_Bailey_Rice\" >Who is Rangers&#8217; young star Bailey Rice?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are reported to be among the clubs keen to sign Rangers prospect Bailey Rice. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to an exclusive report from TEAMtalk, the 19-year-old midfielder is set to leave Ibrox this summer when his contract expires, sparking a high-profile pursuit from multiple Premier League teams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Download the official CaughtOffSide app to get all the latest news and updates straight to your phone. above <span role=\"presentation\"><u>apple<\/u><\/span>  &#038; <span role=\"presentation\"><u>Google play<\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Aston_Villa_aim_to_sign_Bailey_Rice_on_free_transfer\"><\/span>Aston Villa aim to sign Bailey Rice on free transfer<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Aston Villa are pushing to sign the Scottish teenager as a free agent, along with European semi-finalists Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n<p>Reports indicate that several English clubs have already entered into formal discussions with Rice&#8217;s representatives, setting out a detailed pathway to accelerate his transition to the senior first team.<\/p>\n<p>Rice&#8217;s time at Rangers was once seen as a coup when he signed for Motherwell in 2022, but his development appears to have slowed due to a lack of consistent opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>He has made more than 10 first-team appearances for Glasgow Giants, including a cameo during the current 2025\/26 season, but the report states that the player is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his current playing time.<\/p>\n<p>His contract is due to expire on May 31, 2026, and a move south of the border is looking increasingly inevitable as Villa and Palace look to beat continental competition from the likes of Ajax, Stuttgart and Schalke.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_is_Rangers_young_star_Bailey_Rice\"><\/span>Who is Rangers&#8217; young star Bailey Rice?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Bailey Rice is a technically gifted left-footed midfielder known for his composure in the role of playmaker, primarily in deep positions.<\/p>\n<p>At just 19 years old, he has already won caps for Scotland at various youth levels and is praised for his tactical intelligence and ability to dictate the tempo of a match.<\/p>\n<p>Rice is a versatile player who can function as a defensive midfielder but also step into a central defensive role if needed.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his high ceiling, he was sidelined for several months due to an injury in November 2025, missing 22 games.<\/p>\n<p>Competition for his signature is heating up, with Premier League scouts viewing him as a good long-term investment as he approaches a return to full fitness in May this year.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are reported to be among the clubs keen to sign Rangers prospect Bailey Rice. According to an exclusive report from TEAMtalk, the 19-year-old midfielder is set to leave Ibrox this summer when his contract expires, sparking a high-profile pursuit from multiple Premier League teams. Download the official CaughtOffSide app to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-46652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}