Scottish Gossip: Rangers, Celtic, Beale, Kamara, Balogun, Hearts, Hibs, Motherwell, Livingston, QPR, Blaney, Griffiths

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Motherwell have won the race to sign Shane Blaney and the 23-year-old defender, who has been on the Scottish Premiership club's radar since helping Sligo Rovers beat them in Europa Conference League qualifying, will complete his move on 1 January. (Scottish Sun)

Dominican Republic centre-half Luiyi de Lucas was a trialist for Livingston as they lost 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers in a friendly at Loftus Road on Tuesday, with the 28-year-old's contract with Finnish club Haka having expired. (Daily Record)

QPR fans have growing concerns that centre-back Leon Balogun could follow manager Michael Beale and return to Rangers after the centre-half, who moved to the Championship club in the summer, missed Tuesday's friendly win over Livingston, but interim boss Paul Hall could have been allowing the 34-year-old more time to recover from a "minor calf injury" picked up before the World Cup break. (Daily Record)

Michael Beale says it was a "football decision" to return to Rangers as manager after less than six months, revealing that he rejected "financially bigger" offers to join the Ibrox club from QPR. (Sky Sports via Scottish Sun)

One of Michael Beale's first orders since returning to Rangers as manager was to promote forward Zak Lovelace, right-back Adam Devine and midfielder Charlie McCann from the B team to train with the first-team squad. (Daily Record)

Manchester United have joined Arsenal in the race to sign 16-year-old Rangers defender Jack Wylie. (Daily Star)

Finland midfielder Glen Kamara could be set for a new lease of life at Rangers as he was a more regular starter when new manager Michael Beale was assistant to Steven Gerrard's staff, while Neil Banfield, who has also come to Ibrox from QPR, played a massive role in his development at Arsenal. (Scottish Daily Express)

Damian Matthew, who had joined Rangers from QPR with Michael Beale, had a stint as a Celtic scout after he was axed from his first main coaching role at Charlton Athletic. (The National)

Alistair Johnston, the 24-year-old who is expected to join Celtic from Montreal in January, has revealed he chatted with Josip Juranovic, who has been linked with a move away from the Scottish champions because of the impending arrival, about their respective situations in Glasgow after Croatia's World Cup finals win over Canada. (The Scotsman)

Celtic could be in line for large sell-on fee after it was suggested that talks about their former right-back, Jeremie Frimpong, moving to Manchester United from Bayer Leverkusen in January would accelerate at the end of the 21-year-old's involvement with Netherlands at the World Cup finals and with West Ham United's Vladimir Coufal being suggested as a replacement. (Sky Germany via Scottish Sun)

Greenock Morton are considering signing former Celtic and Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths, who has been without a club since leaving Falkirk in the summer barring a couple of appearances for Mandurah City in Australia's Football West State League Division. (Scottish Daily Express)

Hibernian manager Lee Johnson had included Martin Boyle in his line-up to face Rangers in their first fixture after the World Cup finals before hearing the surprise news that the Australia winger has been ruled out for the season. (Edinburgh Evening News)

Heart of Midlothian manager Robbie Neilson thinks Beni Baningime could be ahead of schedule in his comeback bid from injury - even though the midfielder will not play again until next year. (The Herald)

An ankle injury picked up with Australia by Nathaniel Atkinson is a concern for Hearts manager Robbie Neilson, but he is pleased that the defender's World Cup squad teammate, Kye Rowles, has returned to fitness along with Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley, Peter Haring, Stephen Humphrys and Gary Mackay-Steven. (The Scotsman)

St Johnstone midfielder Cammy MacPherson has returned to full training following long-term injury. (The Courier)

St Johnstone forward Jamie Murphy is hoping that on-loan Alex Mitchell does not return to Millwall in January, as fellow defender Danny McNamara did lasts season. (The Courier)

Dundee United head coach Liam Fox says Charlie Mulgrew's new coaching duties will depend on the defender's playing time in the first team. (The Courier)

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