We at Ibrox Noise know that all you really want right now is news on new signings. However, as has been widely reported, that will not be happening just yet. Put simply, Rangers need to sell or ship out before they can buy. Rangers fans and Derek McInnes must wait.
Squad numbers remain too high
The reality is that currently the squad is around about 28 to 32 players in size. This is including or excluding the youth players, depending on your point of view. But roughly speaking, Rangers’ squad is bloated. With 30 players in there, almost a third of whom, if not more, are midfield players, Rangers need to ship out.
We are constantly hearing rumours of the latest player. Obviously the big two stories at the moment are Jens Hjerto Dal and Vanja Dragojević. These are the big two midfielders that have been heavily linked with a move in. They will, in theory, be happening, but only once Rangers can ship out deadwood and sell players.
McInnes must wait
This is the limbo that Derek McInnes unfortunately is in at the moment. He wants a number of new players in, including those two. But until we ship players out, it is not feasible. We cannot just keep on paying the wages for 30+ players.
We need to have on the roster an efficient level of players who are actually what we need. The Danilo and John Souttar exits still have not as yet been confirmed. So nothing can be done until those have been ratified.
There are other players, of course, who are inevitably departing. One or two are obvious, such as Nico Raskin. One or two are not so obvious. But the fact is that nothing can really come in until stuff goes out.
Waiting for departures
Until we get official confirmation that such and such player has left, Derek McInnes just has to bide his time. Yes, the defence is lacking. Yes, we have no wingers. But until we ship out what we have already got, that cannot really change.
It is because of the miserable work done by previous regimes, including sadly the current one in the previous two windows, that we are in this position. We have obviously brought in six players. But we have only shipped out a grand total of two. It is not enough.
While there are, as we say, works going on, nothing has been sorted yet. Until it is, what you are hearing about ‘this player’ and ‘that player’ coming in might not be untrue. But it cannot be pushed over the line until that progress of exits is sorted.
So we are in a waiting game at the moment. Rangers fans and Derek McInnes are all in this boat. It is a big waiting game to sell. The sooner that selling and shipping out happens, the better.