Ferguson has been linked with an Ibrox exit in the January transfer window, with cash-strapped Rangers thought to be ready to offload some of their bigger earners.

However, Gers chairman David Murray has not been happy with agent Willie McKay's apparent bid to find a new club for Ferguson, with talk of interest from Newcastle abound.

McKay has hit back by insisting he was given a mandate by the club's chief executive Martin Bain to test the market with regards Ferguson's possible sale.

"I realise this is a sensitive issue but I'm not going to be made the scapegoat here. Martin Bain asked me to find possible buyers for Barry Ferguson and a number of other players," McKay told the Daily Record.

"Martin was simply doing his job, a job he's very good at. It's the kind of thing that goes on at every club in Britain at this time of year. It only came about because I phoned him to discuss the situation with one of the young players there, Jordan McMillan.

"When we'd finished talking about that he asked me to see what I could do about finding clubs for Barry and a few others.

"Had I not made the call about Jordan we'd probably never have talked about anything else. But I will not be the only agent who has had this discussion with Rangers. I know for a fact that I'm not."

On the contrary to McKay's claim, Bain insists he did not ask the agent to find a buyer for specific players but rather report back on the market as a whole.

"It is categorically untrue that I asked Willie McKay to find a specific player."

Middlesbrough are the latest club to be linked with Ferguson in Monday's press.