Michael Beale provides transfer update as Rangers boss makes striking Lawrence and Roofe admission

Michael Beale has confirmed there could be further defensive reinforcements added to his Rangers squad before the end of the summer window.

The Ibrox boss issued a transfer update ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against Ross County in Dingwall and hinted their may be at least one more new arrival before the window slams shut at the end of the month.

Rangers are in strong shape after a squad overhaul during the off-season and with the club’s injury list having eased too, Beale will focus on trimming his bloated first-team squad in the coming days. One or two players are expected to head through the exit door.

Millwall’s Jake Cooper and Nottingham Forest’s Jonathan Panzo are two centre-backs that Rangers have been linked with this summer. Commenting on whether fans can expect another signing, Beale explained: “It is a possibility. It is not a definite.

“I think the centre-half position this summer with Ben (Davies) being injured and Connor (Goldson) coming back from the injury and Dujon (Sterling) not being fit, we weren’t able to practice how we wanted. But I think as we go into this international break we are getting closer and certainlt coming out of it we’ll be ready.

“The doors will be closed if you like and then we can get on with really bedding down a consistent team. Then people have got to take the shirt. I think having nine games in the period of four or five weeks it would be amiss of me not to rotate because it is so early in the season and we know that last year we came out of this period with a lot of injuries.”

Beale was more concrete when discussing outgoings during his pre-match press conference, with midfielder Glen Kamara set to leave the club for Leeds United. Playmaker Ianis Hagi has also been linked with a move away in search of regular game time with Turkish outfit Trabzonspor enquiring about a possible move, but his exit is not a certainty according to Beale.

He continued: “Glen is the one who is closest. We have had an honest conversation when I came back into the club about his future. There has been no fall-out. We were expecting Glen to move this summer. It was his wish as well.

“I wasn’t in the mood to persuade anyone to play for Rangers. It has to be the right club and valuation. He has been an excellent signing, but I want different here. There has been a lot of hot air around Ianis in the last week or so. It was a logical conversation.

“He has missed a year of football and we are very loaded in the positions he plays and he wants to know if he is a main starter. We will see. It’s got to be right for Ianis and I am not dismissing Ianis being an important player either.”

Beale will welcome fit again Tom Lawrence and Kemar Roofe back to his squad for the trip to the Highlands this weekend, insisting he views both players as “starters” rather than utilising the duo as “back-up players”.

“I think Tom and Kemar are really in my thoughts for that,” Beale replied when questioned on his preferred starting XI this season. “So not having them for the period of time I have been here has been a big frustration for me.

“Them coming back in the squad, and certainly this going and coming back after the international break - them two are players that are really in my thoughts as starters not as back-up players.”