Michael Beale has hinted he's in the market for new defender.
All of the transfer talk surrounding Rangers has been centred around midfield and attack, with Swansea City forward Morgan Whittaker and Standard Liege midfielder Nicolas Raskin heavily linked. Beale reckons information is being leaked from Wales and Belgium in an attempt to drive up the price of the players, and admitted he may have thrown a curve ball and is actually focused on strengthening his backline.
John Souttar and Filip Helander are back in training, with Connor Goldson and Ben Davies the established first choice pairing in the heart of the Light Blues defence. But Beale could yet bring in another after admitting he has plenty of bodies at the other end of the pitch and is in talks with players other than Whittaker and Raskin. He said: “Things have been leaked on the other side about two players that are being spoken about.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s different names or no one at all. I wouldn’t be surprised with anything that happens at this stage of the window.
“I think everyone waits until the end of the window and certainly the selling club because they try to crank up the fee and whatnot. But they’re not the only two names we’re speaking to. I’ve spoken about the final third being quite loaded so no one has taken the scent that the other end of the pitch might be where we strengthen.
“I’m looking for good players in every position. What we have to do is be happy with the deal we’re doing and the price we’re paying for the players and if we’re not we move to the next one.
“There’s a lot of good players out there and it’s certainly not just those players. I like them, the club like them and we’ve been clear on that but they play for somebody else and if they don’t want to sell, they don’t want to sell."
Beale also confirmed that talks will take place with Alfredo Morelos over his future after the transfer window has closed. The Colombian is out of contract in the summer, along with Ryan Kent, Ryan jack, Scott Arfield, Steven Davis and Allan McGregor.
But Beale is keen to have clarity on Morelos’ future one way or the other. He added: He seems happy and settled. I haven’t spoke to him about his personal situation just now because I feel last week this group of players have been under pressure.
"When you think of last week we had three games with the semi-final and then away at Kilmarnock and St Johnstone. It was a week we had to win three games. Is that a time we’re going to play our free flowing best football? When you add on the pitches were heavy in different ways and there was 120 minutes in the first game, I think if we’re playing unbelievable football as well you wouldn’t be asking about transfers because we have everything in house.
"So the realism is there was a lot of pressure last week and a lot of expectation on the players and they dealt with it. I gave them a couple of days off this week to breath and we’ve had three really good training sessions into this game. I’m looking forward to this week, every day Alfredo is training well.
"He’s causing me no problems and he never did on a personal level. We’ve always got on really well. I’ll discuss his situation with him next week when the window is closed and see where he is at.
"But at the moment it’s so far, so good. He’s been out only number nine because Fashion has played wide and I think he’s done a good job for the team. I prefer Alfredo when he’s more involved in the game and not less. I want to see him coming and having more touches on the ball because he looks a better player. I don’t like when he’s not involved in the game."
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