MARK Warburton last night refused to rule out a bid to land Scott Allan of Hibs this week after losing his first game as Rangers manager at Ibrox.
Warburton, whose side lost 1-0 to Burnley in a pre-season friendly, has once again been linked with ex-West Brom midfielder Allan.
The former Brentford boss is believed to have watched the 23-year-old in action for Alan Stubbs' side against Berwick and Dunfermline in recent weeks.
The Englishman declined to publicly discuss a player who is under contract with another club – but added he would “see what happens in the coming days”.
“Scott Allan is a Hibernian player and I think it’s really disrespectful for any manager to talk about another team’s player, if I’m honest with you,” he said.
“So, from my point of view, we focus on what we have here and see what happens in the coming days.”
Jason Holt, the former Hearts midfielder who played as a trialist against English Championship club Burnley last night, is set to sign for Rangers this week.
The Tynecastle outfit is due a development fee for the 23-year-old and has agreed a £65,000 fee with the Ibrox club.
Warburton said: “He’s been in with us and I wanted to see him in a competitive environment against a good team to see how he fared with it.
“I was delighted with Jason, who fits in well with the squad, so. Hopefully, we can take that forward. I focus on the team and let the powers-that-be deal with that.”
Warburton fielded seven of the eight signings he has made since being appointed Rangers manager last month and predicted his side was prepared for their first competitive match of the 2015/16 campaign.
They take on Hibs, who are set to be their main Championship rivals this season, in the first round of the Petrofac Training Cup at Easter Road on Saturday.
He said: “The fans aren’t stupid. They know that two of the boys arrived here yesterday and only trained for 20 minutes with us.
“It takes time to bed in the players but I’m delighted with their contribution and also with the young players who came on. Seeing some of them make their debuts was really pleasing.
“Are we ready for Hibs? Absolutely. That was game three tonight and Saturday is game four of our pore-season programme because our first focus is the league.
“That doesn’t mean that we go into any game weak: far from it, we’ll go there to win and we’ll go there strong with that intention.”
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