MARK WARBURTON, the Rangers manager, reckons he won’t need to utilise the loan market much this summer after bolstering his squad with eight new recruits already ahead of the new campaign.
Warburton has had a productive few weeks in the transfer market as he has added strength and depth to his squad ahead of Rangers’ bid to challenge for the Premiership title next season.
Warburton was always a strong advocate of loan deals at Brentford and he brought in a couple of temporary fixes to improve his Ibrox squad last season. There is less requirement to recruit up-and-coming talents this time around, however, after completing deals for the likes of Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar so far.
“The problem with that is when you get the permanent signings in and you take a loan, you have got to make sure they get enough pitch time,” Warburton said. 
“If we are going to take players from top Premier League clubs, they have got to play football. They need to play at least one every three or be involved in two out of three games. Start one, come on as a sub, not be involved. That type of ratio. If we don't do that then we have got a problem.
“If I look at the team now, if we get a fourth centre half in, we have got full-back cover, we have got two great goalkeepers, I look at Barton, Halliday, Holty, Kranjcar, Rossiter, Forrester, Crooks, then I am looking at O'Halloran, Forrester again, McKay, and we have got options. Where is the loanee going to play? If we get an outstanding loanee then we will move for him but he has got to be better than what we have got.”
Warburton had success with Gedion Zelalem and Dominic Ball last season as they joined from Arsenal and Spurs, while Nathan Oduwa and Billy King also played their part in the Gers’ title triumph.
The 53-year-old has forged a strong working relationship with clubs in England but he won’t bring young players north of the border if there is no benefit to either party in the long run.
“[There is] not [an unwritten understanding] that he has to play. It is more a case of why you take him,” Warburton said.
“It is like people who go on holiday and hire a car. They drive it from the airport to the hotel, leave it for two weeks and take it back to the airport. So why are you getting a hire car? So, for us, why take a loan? We have got to use him and I am not sure we can offer the amount of pitch time.
“Look at Gedion last year. He played X number of games, had a lot of pitch time and would have been one of the best loans at Arsenal. Everyone won from that. Dom Ball likewise. Everyone won from Dom's loan. We have got to make sure that we can offer at least 30, 35 per cent of the games, minimum to help their development. Otherwise, why take him?”
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