Rangers seal McCulloch transfer

Lee McCulloch will wear the light blue of Rangers next season

Lee McCulloch has signed a four-year deal with Rangers after completing his £2.25m transfer from Wigan.

The 29-year-old Scotland forward travelled to Rangers' training ground after the clubs agreed a fee.

"I'm delighted to come to such a massive club - a club with ambition and a club with tradition," McCulloch told the Rangers website on Wednesday.

"I have waited seven months for this to happen and it's great that it has finally happened."

Rangers had a £750,000 offer for the player rejected by the English Premier League outfit in January.

But McCulloch, who joined Wigan from Motherwell in 2001, and was under contract until 2009, recently told BBC Sport he would relish the opportunity to move to the Glasgow club.

"I had hoped I would get the move in January, but Wigan wouldn't budge," said the Scotland international.

"I tried to kick up as much of a fuss as possible because all I wanted to do was come here - but it wasn't to be.

"But that's all in the past now because the most important thing is that I have signed here now.

"It really is brilliant and undoubtedly one of the best days of my life.

"My dad used to take me to Ibrox to watch the great standard of football and now I have the chance to play in front of the best fans in Europe, in my opinion."

Wigan boss Chris Hutchings on Tuesday completed the £5.3m signing of Wales midfielder Jason Koumas from West Brom, smoothing the way for the McCulloch deal to go through.

McCulloch becomes Rangers' eighth permanent recruit to their first-team squad this summer.

Manager Walter Smith had been keen on McCulloch during his time as Scotland boss and tried to prise him away from Wigan within weeks of taking charge at Ibrox.

McCulloch should join his new team-mates when they head for pre-season training in Germany on Thursday.

"We have three games in Germany," the manager told Rangers' website.

"We'll use that to make sure all our players are up to match fitness.

"Once those three games are over, that effectively finishes our pre-season training."