St Johnson boss Steve Lomas believes the Spaniard is being unsettled by Rangers.
Cardiff and West Brom are teams who have been linked but without much substance.
‘Ally (McCoist) wants him and I think he’d go to Rangers,’ said Lomas. ‘But, at the end of the day, it’s a case of Rangers unsettling our player.
‘They maybe see us as little St Johnstone and are trying to get him on the cheap — and that is poor.'
Rangers have offered a pre contract for the player who is out of contract in the summer. Lomas wants Rangers to pay up now if they really want him and is looking for bids starting at £300,000 with City and West Brom's name being thrown in to maybe kick start a bidding war.
Lomas believes the players agent is behind it.
‘I don’t know what his agent is doing. In fact, I do know; he is absolutely Mickey Mouse.
‘He will want Fran to go to Rangers because he will be getting something out of it. Rangers should put up. It’s not fair to us or to Fran to ask him to gamble to the end of the year with his fitness.'