Is 21 year old star the missing piece of the Rangers puzzle?

Rangers’ work in this window has impressed most bluenoses if not all, while suitably irritating enough of Scotland’s media to contrive negative stories about transfers from two years ago, not to mention rival clubs’ comical ire over our ‘disgraceful’ business conduct.

If they all hate you, slur you and complain about you constantly, you know you are doing something right and Rangers are doing plenty right.

And over the next 24 hours it appears our pursuit of Hamilton’s Greg Docherty is to reach a happy conclusion as reportedly Rangers’ bosses are to bid more in line of what Martin Canning’s lot want for their star midfielder. The likelihood is the future Scotland international will be dapper in Light Blue by the end of the week.

However, while Jason Cummings was arguably the missing piece of the attacking jigsaw, there is a strong case that young Docherty is set to fulfil one of the last remaining pieces of the overall puzzle – the dynamic, powerhouse midfielder who can spray a pass, tackle, and defend in equal measure.

It is arguable that Rangers lack a player who can truly do all of these to a high level, instead having plenty who can do parts of it.

No, Docherty appears to be an incredibly shrewd investment, and as Rangers’ first ‘new’ permanent signing of the winter window chances are slim that he will be anything other than a first team pick.

Is he the final piece of the Rangers jigsaw? Well there will still be a vacancy for that aforementioned ‘Barry Ferguson’ type. Great player though Docherty is, we are not entirely convinced he is a leader type, nor capable of dictating play through the middle by himself.

But Docherty will still fill a massive gap – Jason Holt, bless ‘im, tries honestly to fulfil that kind of role, but simply is not good enough to be a first-team starter. Graham Dorrans has as yet failed to truly live up to expectations and is out injured for another two or three months anyway so that is a moot point, while Ross McCrorie is being moulded into a defensive midfielder and while impressing there, he too is currently injured.

We look forward to Greg joining up over the next few days; Rangers have lacked physical players for too long and he is certainly vibrant in that area, and if he realises the potential he has he will be a Scotland regular before too long.

It does not complete the team absolutely as there is always room for improvement, but while Rangers do lack aforementioned midfield dictator the majority of the rest of the XI is pretty much set now.

Everything will be in place – over time the final step is simply improving each position till it is fully at Rangers’ level, but what we appear to have is certainly moving in that direction.

It is a real start.