Rangers boss Mark Warburton has blasted Aston Villa owner Dr Tony Xia's claim that Joleon Lescott's switch to Ibrox fell through because of personal terms.
Lescott headed up to Glasgow to undergo a medical with Rangers and seal a switch to the Scottish giants.
But on Friday news emerged that the move fell through, with talk of a failed medical, a failure to agree personal terms and even family reasons as being behind the development.
Xia says the switch failing was due to the defender being unhappy with the personal terms at Ibrox.
But Warburton has hit back at the Villa supremo.
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Asked about Xia's claims, Warburton was quoted as saying by STV: "Let me be really clear about this – it's absolute nonsense."
Warburton also insisted a simple reason was behind the move falling through, with Lescott not wanting to uproot his family from their home in the north west of England.
"Personal terms were all agreed but the player just decided to keep his family in Manchester. He's well settled with three young children.
"It's absolute nonsense to say anything other than that", he added.
"The fact he's up here tells you that terms were agreed and there wasn't a problem with that.
"It's a big decision on the player's part and we understand that. But it's nothing to do with what I've read in the papers.
"We know what happened, the player knows what happened. To take your three young kids out of school is a big call on his part and we respect it.
"It's unfortunate but we wish him all the best."
Rangers are now expected to move for free agent Philippe Senderos as they look to bring in another central defender.
Senderos, who has departed Swiss side Grasshopper, has been training with the Gers for the last week in a bid to impress Warburton and his coaching team.
