Rangers manager Michael Beale hinted he remains hopeful of getting deals done for Nicolas Raskin and Swansea City wide man Morgan Whittaker.
Beale insists they’ll only do deals if it’s right for the club and won’t rush into anything in January. But he’s admitted that in the summer, he wants to add a new goalkeeper, centre-back, midfielder and striker to his Ibrox ranks. After Rangers’ 2-0 Premiership win over St Johnstone. “But it’s nowhere near what you think. They’re good players, we don’t want bad players here. The clubs they play for don’t want them to go in January. I wouldn’t want to lose one of my better players in January. I think there will be a couple of things in the next 48 hours one way or another.
“Can I guarantee we’ll have new arrivals? No. Will we try our best? Definitely. If we don’t get the work done now, we’ll do more in the summer. If we do less now, we’ll do more in the summer. It has to be the right players. I’m hoping people think Todd Cantwell is the right fit after his debut today. I’d like to add another midfielder to the squad who is powerful and can run. I’d like to add another centre-half to the squad and I’ll probably need to look at the goalie situation in the summer.
“We’ll be looking for another number nine. Are we going to get all of that done in the next 48 hours? There’s more time in the summer. Nobody wants to strengthen this squad more than the board, Ross and myself. It’s in our interest to build a stronger Rangers than we have right now.”
Beale was delighted to hand Cantwell his first start against Saints as goals from James Tavernier and Glen Kamara sealed the points. Romanian star Ianis Hagi also returned off the bench after a year out with a knee injury.
Beale said afterwards: “Todd was free to go and disrupt today and go and get touches on the ball. That’s the way he’ll play, similar to Ryan Kent. They’re free to break the rules and I was pleased with his performance. For Ianis, today was about getting him back out there in front of the crowd.
“He looks good after being out for a year but let’s see how he settles. By the end of the month, he’ll be wanting to start in a cup final - not watch one. I was pleased with the amount of chances we created but not so much with our last pass or shot.
“If they go in, everyone says the performance is fantastic. But whether they go in or not - there were enough red flags to tell me I’ve got a lot of work to do. I was expecting that. I’d like us to be more ruthless in the final third.”
Saints boss Callum Davidson felt referee Willie Collum was wrong to send Nicky Clark off for a first half tackle on Ryan Jack.
And he’s adamant that Jack should have seen red for a challenge on Adam Montgomery. But Beale says the incidents were totally different.
He said: “Nicky didn’t mean to hurt Ryan, there’s no malice in it. At the last minute he actually tried to pull back. But he does catch him quite high on his shin - Ryan has the gash to show it.
“The VAR official has spoken to Willie and decided to send him off. He hasn’t meant to do it but he’s caught him. Ryan’s tackle on Montgomery is different. It’s low and he’s caught him on the ankle.
“It’s a yellow card anywhere on the park. We shouldn’t put the two of them together and make a lot of drama about it. There’s no way that Ryan Jack’s tackle is a red card, no way.”
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