Gio van Bronckhorst insists Rangers are ready to strengthen in the January transfer window - but hasn’t a clue how many new faces he’ll need.
The Ibrox boss says it’s crucial his squad is stronger when the window closes on January 31st and that a mounting injury list could force his hand. Connor Goldson, Tom Lawrence, Ianis Hagi, John Souttar and Filip Helander are among the long term crocks while Ben Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz are sidelined too. Celtic never looked back after the mid-season spending splurge saw Matt O’Reily, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi added to Ange Postecoglou’s options last January as the Hoops romped home as champions.
Rangers recruitment over the same month came in for criticism with marquee signings Aaron Ramsey and Amad Diallo flopping and Polish full-back Mateusz Zukowski making only one Scottish Cup appearance. Van Bronckhorst and sporting director Ross Wilson have started preparations to make sure they’re not caught out this time. But with a backlog of injuries and 10 players entering the final months of their contracts including Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos the Dutchman is unsure exactly how many signings will be required.
He said: “I don’t know how many, we still have two months to prepare for the window to open. When we come into the second part of December we will know which players we’ll have back from injury and who we’ll still be waiting on.
“Then we can pinpoint positions we might have to strengthen. You always want to add players in January. We have a lot of players out with injuries and need to look closely at which players are coming back. You don’t want to lose players.
“The beginning and the end is important because you want to finish the window stronger than you started it.
“That means you have to be prepared for players going out and adding players to be stronger as a squad. That will be no different this window.
“We had injuries before the season started. Ianis, Helander and Souttar.
“In the last month we had injures with Lawrence, Yilmaz and Goldson. Ben Davies too.
“That’s football. Before the World Cup the schedule is so demanding and condensed that you see so many players getting injured.
“It’s not good for us as coaches and not so good for the World Cup when you miss a lot of players.”
Despite his mounting injury problems van Bronckhorst hopes as many of his players make it to Qatar 2022 as possible.
James Sands and Malik Tillman could get the call from the USA while Croatia’s Borna Barisic and Antonio Colak are keeping their fingers crossed along with Wales star Rabbi Matondo.
He said: “I told my players ‘I hope as many of you as possible will go to the World Cup’. I have played in three, it’s a great experience just like the Champions League is a great experience.
“Going to the World Cup will make you a better player.
“Hopefully James and Malik will go and of course we have Borna and Colak, maybe Matondo for Wales. We just have to wait and see.”
Meanwhile, van Bronckhorst insists Ryan Kent still has the will to succeed for Rangers but needs to discover the way to goal more often.
The winger has come in for flak off fans this season after a drop in levels as he enters the final months of his contract.
The big money signing from Liverpool has notched just one goal in 19 appearances so far and a major question mark remains over whether he’ll still be a Rangers player next summer - a factor some have attributed to his loss of form.
Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson confirmed last month talks over a new deal for the Englishman were ongoing.
Ahead of this afternoon’s trip to face St Johnstone, van Bronckhorst was adamant there’s no doubt over Kent’s commitment. He said: “Is the contract situation affecting Ryan? You should ask him but I don't think so.
“Every day he wants to train, he wants to play. That’s his character and his energy is there still.
“Sometimes his actions won’t work but he will always try.
“Seven times he might not pass his opponent but the eighth time he will go again and the month and tenth time. That’s the character he has.
“Last year he was an important player and he still is but he needs to improve his assists and of course his goals.
“I have spoken many times with him. He needs to score more goals and position himself where he can score or get assists.
“Some games, in pre-season, we tried to play him more inside. But I think his natural position is on the wing.
“You always have to use players in their natural habitat to get the best out of them.
Meanwhile van Bronckhorst says belief is key to overcoming Celtic in the title race - something his Feyenoord team had in spades when they beat Ajax and PSV Eindhoven to the Eredivisie in 2017.
He said: “We had no big injuries that season which is a help.
“That’s not the case in the first months here because we need to adapt in our line ups as we have missed a lot of players.
“The most important thing we also had that year was the belief to become champions.
“We have to show that this year here too.”
