EWAN CHESTER, the former Rangers chief scout, is confident manager Mark Warburton has recruited wisely with his first three acquisitions of the summer.
Warburton has completed deals for defenders Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan and goalkeeper Wes Foderingham since being appointed at Ibrox last month and remains in the market for more reinforcements ahead of the new season.
Warburton and assistant David Weir inherited a threadbare squad at Ibrox and have been linked with a number of players as they look to strengthen further ahead of the Petrofac Training Cup first round tie with Hibernian next weekend.
While Wilson, the returning defender who lead Hearts to the Championship title last season, is familiar to supporters, few will be aware of what Kiernan, who spent the second half of last term on loan at Birmingham City from Wigan, and former Swindon keeper Foderingham will add to the squad this season. But Chester, who spent two decades at Ibrox over two spells and is now the chief scout at Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion, has been impressed with the first tranche of new arrivals as Warburton has built from the back this summer.
"When Danny first came in, two of his early games for the club were at Celtic Park and a Champions League game," Chester told Herald Sport. "That proved that, even at that young age, he had an outstanding temperament. He is a very good player. What he has done at Hearts is impressive and I think he is a good signing.
"Wes Foderingham is rated highly in England and a lot of clubs looked at him in the second half of last season aware that he was a Bosman. I like the sound of Foderingham in goal with Wilson and Kiernan as the centre-backs.
"People are sometimes wary of players that have had multiple loans but in places like Italy, that is seen as part of your apprenticeship. Rob is at the age where he is ready to be a constant in a side and he is very experienced. At Birmingham and Norwich, we had Andros Townsend and Harry Kane, and both are now in the England setup. They had multiple loans and people thought they were just going from club to club, but they gained from each experience. I think Rob is in that category."
The appointment of Warburton and Weir and overhaul of the Rangers squad has given supporters renewed optimism ahead of their second season in the Championship. After facing Hibernian at Easter Road next weekend, Rangers will then host Peterhead in the League Cup first round before beginning their title challenge at home to St Mirren on August 8.
More new arrivals are likely to reinforce the Ibrox squad in the coming weeks but Chester expects Warburton and Weir to adopt the same philosophy that saw them take Brentford from League One to the brink of a place in the Premier League before their Griffin Park exit in the summer.
"The players they signed and developed at Brentford was very impressive and every signing they made fitted into their structure," Chester said. "They didn't have huge numbers in their squad. A lot of people fall into the trap where you can actually have too many players. People recruit and have over inflated squad and the thing that struck me about Brentford was that it was a really lean squad.
"The players they did sign, they were signed to fit into the system. That is something you will see at Rangers. Players will be signed for specific roles and they will sign players that will improve under their guidance."
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