MARK WARBURTON, the Rangers manager, last night dropped a hint if not a name about another new player arriving at Ibrox this week but it won’t be Newcastle’s United striker Adam Armstrong.
The top goal-scorer for the England Under-19 team, who his highly-rated at St James’ Park, has been heavily linked with a move to Glasgow with good reason.
The teenager has been scouted by Warburton after he scored 20 goals on loan at Coventry City in League One last season. Although as the player is an employee of Mike Ashley, this could well be a factor in the move not taking place.
The Rangers manager is still on the market for a forward and defender, and was confident that one of those identified who can strengthen his squad will be at the club within the next 48 hours.
But asked directly about Armstrong, Warburton said: “Not for us. He's a very talented player, but he's not coming to Rangers. If we took everyone in that we are linked to we would have a squad of 75 players. He's a very talented player, I know how well he did at Coventry, but there's no truth in that rumour.
"Are we close to bringing someone? Maybe, fingers crossed, we'll see. Work is going on so hopefully we will make some progress. But you saw tonight the strength and depth of the squad, we made six changes and we looked good.”
Joe Dodoo scored as Rangers cruised to a 5-0 win over Peterhead in their Betfred Cup last 16 tie at Ibrox and Warburton was happy with the way the striker went about his business.
“We never had any doubts about is quality,” said the Rangers manager. “We knew what Joe can do, there's a lot of development from him still ahead, but we were never going to bring anyone to the club just to make up the numbers.
"If they add to our value then we will take them, but we are never going to add to our squad just for numbers."
Warburton was happy with what he saw from his players on what was the simplest of nights at Ibrox.
Once the first goal went in, a spectacular strike from Niko Kranjcar after 18 minutes, there was only going to be one winner.
“It was a good performance because it's always difficult to beat any team but I thought it was a professional job,” he said. “We were more clinical in front of goal, got some rewards and created a lot more chances as well.
“I was pleased all over the park; Lee Hodson stepping in, Jordan Rossiter was excellent tonight, Joe Dodoo offered us something different up front in terms of running channels. I thought it was a job well done.
“It was good to see. Peterhead are a resilient team, so it was pleasing. You have to be on top of your game and if not, you pay the price.
"Peterhead have beaten Premiership opposition already and we were aware of that. So you also have to make sure your squad is ready for the league campaign as well, so it's important to use these games. We want to win every game we go in to.”
Kranjcar responded to the criticism aimed at him after a lacklustre display in the opening league match against Hamilton with a good goal and Clint Hill, the new centre-half, got the first two of his Rangers career. He also set to with good deliveries from set-pieces.
“It was great technique from Niko for the first,” said Warburton. “Clint showed good feet for the second for a big centre half and a dominant header for his second goal - and was on a hat-trick, which I never thought I’d be saying.
“Niko is working really hard. I think a few people’s comments stung him, if I’m honest, because he is working hard.
“I don’t think he’s been challenged for a long period of time. So to get back to where he needs to get to is through hard work and he’s putting the work in, there’s no doubt about his quality and you’ll see the best of Niko very soon I’m sure.”
The full extent of Martyn Waghorn’s injury, he pulled his hamstring against Hamilton, will be revealed on Wednesday and the hope is the injury is not as bad as first feared.
“Martyn’s scan was tonight and we’ll get the result first thing in the morning” said his manager. “We’ll have a lot clearer picture then. He’s more comfortable so hopefully it’s nothing more than a Grade One. That would maybe mean two or three weeks."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel