Ball set to be bounced out of Ibrox

Rangers manager Alex McLeish (pictured) today confirmed the club has no intention of triggering a clause in Michael Ball’s contract which would see Everton bank £500,000 (€716,000).

The former England international was named in the starting line-up at Hibernian today for the first time this season, having not played a first team game since May.

Ball is five games away from clocking up 60 for Rangers – which would mean Everton receive £500,000 (€716,000) on top of the £4m (€5.7m) the Ibrox club, then managed by Dick Advocaat, paid in the summer of 2001.

With first-choice left-back Gregory Vignal out with a groin injury, McLeish opted to play Ball ahead of Paolo Vanoli, who has just recovered from a hamstring injury.

McLeish said he was putting Ball in the shop window with a view to a January transfer out of Ibrox which would solve the problem once and for all.

McLeish told BBC Radio Five Live there was no way Everton would be paid the full £500,000 (€716,000).

He said: “I can confirm we are not going to do that. If we can come to a compromise with Everton then who knows?

“It is an opportunity for other people to watch Michael in the first team.

“It is five or six games he has. I’m going to err on the side of caution and say five.

“He starts because he has been looking very sharp in training and I can play him for the five games.”

Ball’s move to Rangers was almost scuppered by a knee injury but the transfer did eventually go through.

It was not long before he suffered a serious setback and was out for more than a year recovering from reconstructive surgery performed in America.

His last start for Rangers was back in April in a 3-3 draw at Dundee United, while his last first team appearance was the last three minutes of a 1-0 defeat at Celtic on May 8 when he came on for Stephen Hughes.