Oldham Athletic have doubled their asking price for star defender George Edmundson to £1 million.

This increase in asking price follows three bids from Rangers, which The Oldham Chronicle reports were valued at £400,000, £500,000 and £600,000.

It is now revealed that owner Abdallah Lemsagam will accept nothing short of £1 million and will demand that the young defender, who handed in a transfer request last month, attends pre-season training next month.

The 21-year-old has impressed since graduating from the youth academy at Oldham, and made 54 appearances for the Lancashire club and went on to win several accolades including the D3D4 InStat League Two Young Player of the Season.

Rangers have been incredibly keen on signing Edmundson but have previously said they wouldn’t be held to ransom by the League Two club. Indeed fans of the Glasgow club have indicated that £600,000 is as much as they’d be comfortable bidding for a largely unproven centre-half.

Steven Gerrard has been taking a personal interest in this transfer and it is understood that Edmundson has had a tour of the facilities at the club. Mr Lemsagam, however, is now prepared to let him run-down his contract and let him leave on a free-transfer next summer; with a compensatory fee settled through arbitration.