Michael Beale’s first press conference as Rangers manager saw him address a range of issues, transfers and the condition of the current squad playing a major part and, with the transfer window only a few weeks away, the time between now and then will be spent assessing who he wants to keep and where he needs to upgrade.
The good thing is, Beale will already have a pretty good idea about the players who are approaching the end of their contracts and individuals like Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos who the new manager said has not been playing anywhere near their respective ability.
Ross Wilson confirmed that Beale will be backed, however, speaking to Football Insider, pundit and former England striker Kevin Campbell has claimed that there might already be deals lined up:
“I’m sure that transfers will have been one part of the negotiations with Beale and Rangers.
“They might have already agreed on their plans for January.
“He will want to upgrade this squad, and I’m sure he will have players in mind.
“He’s got to start trying to claw these points back from Celtic now, and it’s going to be a titanic battle.
“Michael Beale wouldn’t go to Rangers if he didn’t think he would be given the right tools to succeed.”
Recruitment is an ongoing process so, there is every chance that our sporting director has already spoken to clubs and potential targets about whether or not they would be interesting in signing for Rangers. We all know where we need to strengthen and who the manager is is almost irrelevant.
Beale wants to play a more aggressive and attacking style of football so it may be that certain players are ruled out or bumped up the list, what we do know is though is that if the new manager has to contend with the same selection issues as the old one, the board will be hunted if they don’t put their hands into the Ibrox coffers.