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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Pirie

Kris Commons names the Celtic transfer approach Rangers must avoid during rebuild as he draws 'half baked' parallel

Former Celtic star Kris Commons has urged Rangers to learn lessons from the Parkhead transfer missteps ahead of their Champions League push.

After a successful campaign in the Europa League and a Scottish Cup win, Gio van Brockhorst looks set to have a revamped squad at his disposal next season.

Veteran pair Allan McGregor and Steven Davis could have played their last game for the club, while Connor Goldson appears unlikely to sign a new deal.

Following their run to Seville, a host of clubs will likely be keeping tabs on star men including Calvin Bassey and Alfredo Morelos.

Despite a potential upheaval Commons insists the time is right for change and Rangers must embrace the overhaul.

He reckons that sporting director Ross Wilson and Van Bronckhorst will know they must act fast if they have been keeping an eye on previous Champions League campaigns across the city.

In his Daily Mail column, Commons wrote: "The cycle of this team is now at an end after being built over the past four or five years.

"It is inevitable that there is going to be an exodus of senior players from Ibrox this summer, with Allan McGregor and Connor Goldson chief among them.

"Steven Davis also looks likely to depart. Clubs will undoubtedly be interested in the likes of Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos.

"All three of them could easily go for the right price, especially since they are now entering the final year of their contracts. The club shouldn't have allowed them to run down their deals.

"It could also be the perfect moment to cash-in on the outstanding Calvin Bassey, who was superb in both the Europa League and Scottish Cup finals.

"Bassey was moved from left-back to centre-back more through necessity earlier in the season, but he has been a revelation. Right now, he's Rangers' top asset.

"You've then got the likes of loan players such as Aaron Ramsey and Amad Diallo who will now head back to their parent clubs after an underwhelming contribution at Ibrox.

(SNS Group)

"So there is going to be a major rebuild at Rangers this summer. But it's not something the club should fear. It's a natural process that this team has reached the end of the road.

"Instead of fearing the idea of losing several key players, Rangers need to be proactive in this process and act quickly and decisively.

"Why? Because they still have a chance of reaching next season's Champions League, which would have a transformative effect on the club's finances.

"Rangers can't afford to sit and twiddle their thumbs. When it comes to the Champions League qualifiers, they only need to look at what Celtic did over a number of years.

"Almost every season without fail, you had all this uncertainty around key players in terms of hanging around to wait and see if the club managed to reach the group stage.

"Celtic became notoriously slow with getting their transfer business done every summer. It became a running circus year after year that they would go into the European qualifiers with a half-baked squad.

"They would then go and make some panic buys late in the window Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt, Albian Ajeti to try and save face.

"This is where the likes of sporting director Ross Wilson has to earn his money for Rangers. As soon as the final whistle was blown at Hampden on Saturday, he had to turn his focus on to the inevitable rebuild."

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