Saturday's departure of Joe Aribo is primed to spark more incomings for Rangers as their transfer window suddenly roars into life.
The playmaker joins Southampton in a deal worth up to £10million, and a chunk of that cash will be reinvested straight into the first-team after the budget signings of Antonio Colak and Tom Lawrence. However one player they look have missed out on is Theo Bongonda , who is closing in on a €6m move to the UAE.
Reports in Belgium claim Rangers and the Abu Dhabi club were both prepared to meet Genk's asking price for the Congo international winger. But Bongonda made it clear he was only interested in accepting the money-spinning offer from the UAE and has jetted out to complete the deal. Rangers' renewed interest in free agent Lawrence emerged around the same time as reports linking them with Bongonda, and they seem to have settled on the Welshman instead, with the 28-year-old snubbing Sheffield United and Watford among others to head to Ibrox.
They also look to be on the brink of adding Lawrence's international teammate Rabbi Matondo , with SPORT1 in Germany claiming he is flying to Glasgow today to undergo a medical. Rangers have agreed to pay Schalke €3m (£2.5m) for the 21-year-old, who scored 10 times in 27 appearances for Cercle Brugge last season.
That comes after Gio van Bronckhorst declared the club are hard at work looking for new signings, saying after their friendly against Sunderland: "Of course we want to add more players to our squad and he is busy talking with players, talking with agents and clubs.
“Now we have so many people involved in those talks. I am hopeful that we can add more players in the coming week. We are busy. We have several players that we are watching and talking with. When it is 100 per cent we will communicate.”
With Aribo gone, a new midfield playmaker is also likely to be on the agenda. French midfielder Angelo Fulgini was heavily linked, but local outlet Courier de l'Ouest say he is "very close" to joining Mainz in Germany instead.
In addition to Matondo, a new attacking central midfielder will be high on the list of priorities with Ianis Hagi still some time away from returning to action.
