How Rangers feel about Joel Piroe transfer as Middlesbrough, Birmingham & Stoke lurk | OneFootball

The centre-forward is attracting plenty of transfer interest at present

All 24 clubs in the Championship will soon be ramping up their preparations for the 2026/27 campaign which gets underway in mid-August, and with the summer transfer window just days away from opening for business, speculation is already rife.

A fair portion of sides will no doubt be fancying their chances of mounting a promotion bid in the second tier over the gruelling 46-game campaign, largely due to the expanded play-off format involving the sides who finish between third and eighth.

There will also be an added sense of intrigue when it comes to the strategy of many outfits in the transfer market, after it was recently confirmed by the EFL that the 48 sides competing in the Championship and League One would obey the newly-implemented Squad Cost Rules.

For clubs at Championship level, this allows them to spend up to a maximum of 85% of any income generated through outgoing transfers and revenue streams, with many predicting the likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham, in particular, to benefit from these new regulations as a result of their stature in the EFL and across the Atlantic Ocean through high-profile American investment consortiums.

12 months ago, Birmingham - under the management of Chris Davies - were heavily fancied to mount a push for the play-offs after the first of two strong recruitment drives, but were very rarely in the promotion conversation in truth.

As such, there is an air of expectancy and anticipation at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park this summer when it comes to recruitment, even though the hierarchy now have the just as important task of appointing a new director of football.

However, they, alongside two other divisional rivals, could have already been handed a boost in the transfer market.

Birmingham City, Middlesbrough and Stoke City put on red alert amid fresh Rangers, Joel Piroe update

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Indeed, one man who has been heavily linked with a move to the West Midlands outfit, and a return to the Championship in general, is Joel Piroe of Leeds United.

TEAMtalk previously claimed that Birmingham and Stoke City have a "general interest" in the experienced centre-forward, although nothing concrete was said to have come from the two second tier sides at that particular stage.

Meanwhile, another pair of clubs also linked with the services of the Suriname international are Middlesbrough and Scottish Premiership giants, Rangers, who are preparing for their first full season under Danny Rohl.

It was claimed that Boro were unlikely to press forward with their interest in the 26-year-old if they were promoted to the Premier League, but those dreams died a death at Wembley against Hull City on May 23rd.

However, a fresh stance has now emerged from the Light Blues camp, and it is one which will offer all three transfer rivals encouragement.

The aforementioned publication now claim that the arrival of Lawrence Shankland last month, as well as the February acquisition of Ryan Naderi, means that Rohl may not be able to guarantee Piroe minutes at Ibrox behind 11-goal man, Youssef Chermiti.

Leeds acquired Piroe's signature from Swansea City three years ago in a deal worth £13m, and it has now been claimed the West Yorkshire side could command between £8m and £10m for his signature after a season of extremely limited gametime at Elland Road.

Joel Piroe's confidence could be restored by a Championship return

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After failing to make the step-up into the Premier League with the Whites, largely due to the form of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Piroe's confidence would certainly be restored if he was return to his previous goalscoring self in the Championship, and all three sides could certainly make cases as to why they require his prowess in front of goal.

Even though Marvin Ducksch netted 11 times for Blues last term, the German has already been the subject of reported interest due to a non-promotion release clause, which also comes after he was charged with drink-driving in April, as well as the fact Kyogo Furuhashi has failed to show the best version of himself at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park behind the highly-rated Jay Stansfield.

Boro, meanwhile, had struggled massively in front of goal in the final two months of the season despite dominating both the possession and shot counts in several encounters, meaning it is no surprise Kim Hellberg is looking to improve his attacking options.

Stoke also saw their early-season play-off hopes fade into the abyss under Mark Robins, and only scored 51 times in 46 games, with a third of those coming from the boots of Sorba Thomas and Million Manhoef, both of whom have attracted reported interest from elsewhere in recent times.

Of course, there is still a chance Piroe is acquired by Rangers, but after falling down the pecking order in West Yorkshire, it seems highly unlikely a player of his calibre would, again, settle for limited minutes from the substitutes' bench.