PHILIPPE Senderos said last night that he couldn't care less if he wasn't Rangers' first choice as they searched for a central defender this summer.
The 31-year-old Swiss international, who has been training with the club for two weeks, eventually signed a deadline day contract at the Ibrox club which will run through to the end of the season, but only after a move for Aston Villa's Joleon Lescott collapsed at the 11th hour.
The former Arsenal, AC Milan and Valencia player said he knew the Ibrox side were exploring other options for the position but just focused on his own training.
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“I didn’t really think about it [the Lescott situation]," said Senderos. "I tried to focus on my job and whatever is in my hands. I knew they were looking at other people but that was the same as other teams.
"The manager [Mark Warburton] didn’t speak to me about that, not at all. I don’t get involved in other players or whatever they have been discussing. I was here to train and I came in to do that. They were happy with me and in the end I signed."
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Senderos insists he was never on trial at the club, merely proving his fitness having left previous club Grasshoppers FC in Zurich after his failure to make the Swiss Euro 2016 squad.
While he hasn't played a first team match since an international friendly against Belgium at the end of May, he is expected to come straight into the reckoning for the friendly with Linfield in Belfast tomorrow afternoon, and could face a baptism of fire in next Saturday's Old Firm derby at Celtic Park.
It is a prospect which doesn't faze this veteran of North London and Milan derbies, who kept himself ticking over fitness-wise working with a personal trainer in London.
"On my part, this move was never in doubt," said Senderos. "I’ve been here for a couple of weeks now and I’ve been enjoying training. It took a bit longer but there weren’t any problems, it was just about the timing. Because I didn’t have a team, I didn’t get to do a pre-season so they wanted to see where I was physically before we even started talking about details.
“We have a tough friendly on Saturday from what I hear and then Celtic," said the Swiss. "It’s the type of game everyone wants to play in. I have played in some derbies but this is special. We will see, I feel good in training but there is always a difference between training and games. My last competitive game was with the national team back in May so it’s been long but not that long. I have trained hard in the meantime so I wasn’t just on holiday."
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