MARK Warburton, the Rangers manager, last night revealed that he hopes to strengthen his squad at Ibrox with new signings soon after the January transfer window opens next week.

Warburton, who has taken Nathan Oduwa from Spurs and Gedion Zelalem from Arsenal on loan this season, has admitted more players could be brought in from Premier League clubs in England on a temporary basis.

Rangers have failed to win four of their last six matches in the Ladbrokes Championship – a disappointing run of results which has resulted in Hibs coming from eight points behind and drawing level with them on points at the top of the table.

Their manager, whose side take on their nearest challengers at Ibrox on Monday, is keen to bring in individuals who can boost their chances of winning promotion to the Premiership as soon as possible.

The Englishman drafted in Frank McParland as head of recruitment at Rangers in October and he been actively identifying players who can boost their prospects of clinching the second tier title.

Asked if he intended to make early signings when the transfer window opens, Warburton said: “I hope so. A lot of work is going on. That’s no disrespect to the squad, but we know that we’re a lean, tight squad.

“Nicky Law has been out and is just coming back and you’re going to tough, heavy pitches. Gedion got an injury in training last week. So it’s just making sure we add the one, two, three players that we think will give us a bit of quality that we haven’t currently got.

“We’ve got a number of trialists, some we bring in, some we just look at. The agents do their work and this is their feeding time, so to speak, we have to liaise with agents and make sure it represents value for us, financially on and off the pitch.”

When questioned about whether loan players would be brought in, Warburton said: “Yes, it’s not always Arsenal and Spurs. It’s great that I’m London-based and have relationships with those clubs, but if the right player is available then absolutely, it’s an important part of the market.”

Zelalem, the United States internationalist, has had his loan deal extended until the end of the 2015/16 campaign and Warburton is hopeful the progress the 18-year-old has made since moving to Scotland will convince other English clubs to farm out their most promising players.

“It’s about us creating an environment here where clubs of that stature trust us with their players,” he said. “That’s important medically, nutritionally, training wise, game time, experience and their players will go back to their clubs better, as better individuals on and off the pitch.

“If we can get a reputations for that then who knows? It’s important to develop those links and build them. They can be spoiled very quickly, so it’s an on-going process to be better every day.”

Meanwhile, Warburton has reiterated that he is hopeful he can hang onto his best players during the transfer window and stressed that clubs will have to meet their valuation of their top performers before they will be allowed to leave.

“I’ve always said there is a ‘what if’ scenario in football, if a bid comes in for one of our players,” he said. “What I do know that if any player leaves it’ll be on our terms.”

Elsewhere, Warburton, who was scathing about the performance of referee Willie Collum in the 2-1 defeat to Falkirk last Saturday, suggested that Rangers had raised their unhappiness about the match official’s performance with the SFA.

“There is a process that you have to do,” he said. “We’ve gone through that process and that’s obviously private. I made my thoughts clear last week and we move on, that’s the random nature of football.”