Yahoo Sport 
Ryan Kent earns transfer lifeline as Rangers hero sees Paul Heckingbottom offer redemption
Ryan Kent has reportedly been handed a chance to get his career back on track by English Championship side Preston North End.
The former Rangers winger has been without a club since his contract at Turkish giants Fenerbahce last month. The 27-year-old has only joined the Istanbul club in the summer of 2023 after leaving Ibrox on a free transfer, but made just 19 appearances in Turkey before he completely fell out of favour with new boss Jose Mourinho.
But according to The Sun, Preston are willing to hand the ex Liverpool kid a lifeline and could reunite Kent with a former SPFL manager. Deepdale manager Paul Heckingbottom - who had an ill-fated nine month spell in charge of Hibs in 2019 - had Kent on loan during his tenure as Barnsley boss in the 2016/17 season, with the wide-man winning the Tykes Young Player of the Year award after scoring three times in 43 matches.
READ MORE:Fife flats fire sparks emergency response as smoke billows into air
Elsewhere, Nigeria assistant coach Daniel Ogunmodede has defended the country's decision to call up former Rangers flop Sadiq Umar ahead of current Light striker Cyriel Dessers. Nigeria take on Benin Republic and Rwanda in a double header in qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations next week and have opted to pick Real Sociedad's Sadiq despite the frontman's last goal for the club coming back in March.
Dessers often divided opinion at Rangers, but took his tally for the season to nine goals in 19 games by netting the equaliser in Thursday's 1-1 draw with Olympiacos in the Europa League. The 29-year-old has not been called up by his nation since March and the wait goes on for the striker to add to his six caps won so far.
Ogunmodede has moved to defend the decision to include Sadiq made by caretaker boss Augustine Eguavoen. He said: "The manager has come up with a list, discussed it with us, his backroom staff and I think they are competent and capable of representing the country.
“Sadiq had been in the team for a while and was also out due to injury now he’s back and the coach felt we needed a striker like him. He looked at other strikers too and had his reasons for picking his names in the squad."
