Unlike other seasons, the challenge this January will be adding players who fit Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s system whilst also retaining key players that have got us six points clear at the top of the league and into the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Joe Aribo has been attracting all sorts of attention since the new manager made him the main man in our attack, finally showing that he can dictate games in the way that we all knew he had the potential to do.
The problem is, this makes him more attractive to other clubs, just as we were starting to enjoy his form and, speaking to Sky Sports, Derek McInnes reckons that keeping a hold of the likes of Aribo will be pivotal in determining the destination of the Scottish Premiership title:
“January gives Rangers the opportunity to try and improve on that, of course, whether van Bronckhorst wants to bring people in or he sees those improvements inside the building.
“The thing is trying to hold on to those good players like Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent.
“There’s a lot of players out of contract at Rangers come the end of the season and he may resist making too many changes.
“You have to say they’re in the driving seat. I think they’ll know there’s a challenge coming, particularly from Celtic if they strengthen in January, and they need to be ready for that.
“I think they look ready for the title challenge and I think they’ll take the confidence from winning the title last year.”
He’s right about Ryan Kent and Aribo but the players out of contract are veterans or others who are non-contributing, with only Scott Arfield and Leon Balogun potentially getting another year, the obvious exception being Connor Goldson who we would all love to stick around for another few seasons at least.
Van Bronckhorst won’t have taken the job if he wasn’t going to be able to bring his own players in too, despite recent financial results, there will still be room to add quality wherever it is needed plus if Allan McGregor, Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe all move onto other roles or leave the club, there will be a significantly smaller wage bill.
McInnes is right in that Rangers need to add from a position of strength though and only needing to fine tune the squad with an advantage at the top of the league gives us a head start, hopefully January is the month we put the foot down.