Rangers' Transfer Plans: McInnes Aims for Four New Signings
Rangers are braced for a frantic final month of the window, with Derek McInnes driving plans for as many as four more signings – but only once a wave of departures clears space and cash inside Ibrox.
Olwethu Makhanya’s arrival from Philadelphia Union has opened the door on the defensive rebuild. He will not be the last. The South African is the first piece, not the finished picture.
On the other side of the revolving door, the outflow has already begun. Oliver Antman has completed his switch to Anderlecht, trimming the attacking options. Nedim Bajrami is closing in on a move to the Saudi Pro League, another creative body set to vanish from McInnes’ board just as the season starts to take shape.
The message from inside the club is clear: the wide areas are the priority.
Wings and wall first
McInnes wants pace, goals and direct threat on the flanks. Rangers are actively hunting two wingers before the deadline, a deliberate attempt to inject more cutting edge into a side that has too often lacked ruthlessness in wide areas.
The pressure to get those deals done is real. Rangers open their Premiership campaign on Friday night away to Dundee United at Tannadice, and the manager has made no secret of his desire to have fresh faces in the building as quickly as possible, bedding in before the domestic and European schedule begins to bite.
At the back, the work is only half done. Makhanya adds one option, but the club want two more defenders. John Souttar is widely expected to move on, and Rangers are planning as if that exit will happen. The defensive line that starts the season may look very different to the one that finishes it.
Midfield on hold, Raskin in the spotlight
Central midfield is a more delicate equation. Another body in that area is not on the immediate shopping list unless there are exits first. Connor Barron and Mo Diomande are among those who could be moved on, but all eyes inevitably fall on Nico Raskin.
Any departure of Raskin would change the whole window.
The Belgian is valued at more than £20 million and has drawn serious interest from Villarreal and other European clubs. A sale at that level would deliver the biggest financial boost of Rangers’ summer, handing McInnes the kind of budget that allows a squad to be reshaped in a single window rather than over several.
For now, that possibility hangs over everything. It is the lever that could turn cautious recruitment into something far more aggressive. It is also the kind of decision that tests a club’s nerve: cash in on a key midfielder, or hold firm and build more slowly around him.
The pursuit of Jens Herto Dahl from Tromso has already been slowed by that uncertainty. Without an outgoing in midfield, particularly a major one, Rangers are reluctant to press ahead. The brakes are on until the picture clears.
Clock ticking as McInnes pushes for change
Time, though, is not on their side. With just over a month left in the window, Rangers are trying to balance short-term needs with long-term planning, all while preparing for competitive football.
McInnes inherits a squad in transition. Some players are on the way out, others still adjusting, and more yet to arrive. He wants his new signings through the door early enough to understand his demands before the fixtures pile up at home and in Europe.
The strategy is defined: add quality and depth out wide, reinforce the back line, stay flexible in midfield until the market dictates the next move. The execution now has to match the ambition.
Supporters will judge it not on spreadsheets or speculation, but on who lines up in blue as the season unfolds and how that team copes with the weight of expectation.
The 49ers’ backing gives Rangers the financial muscle to act once the right deals appear. The question now is simple and sharp: can McInnes and the recruitment team turn this restless, shifting squad into a side ready to compete on all fronts before the window slams shut?
