Warburton is working closely on the shopping list with Frank McParland, the club’s new head of recruitment.
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Liverpool-born McParland’s main role will be to identify and watch transfer targets for the first team as well as the academy.
“If a player gets offered quadruple his wages to play in a lower Premier League or a top Championship side, we aren’t going to stand in his way as long as we get the right fee”.
“I think we showed at our previous club that there are players out there that you can find and have value for you, who you can develop and quickly become an asset, so hopefully that’s the same at Rangers”, Warburton said at a press conference held to introduce McParland.
“Frank knows exactly what we want, we like young, hungry players, players who have development potential and add character and value on and off the pitch”. The Anfield side were one of the first to commit to the competition with Warburton’s Watford side catching the eye.
Recalling their meeting, McParland added: “I always remember that I went in to the changing room and said ‘Warbs, that is the best performance I’ve ever seen on that pitch.’ And it was”. I watched the game on Saturday and a few of the chances they created and the football he wants to play, I love it. David is pretty much on the same wavelength. “I help with that as well”. It’s a shared belief.
As a legacy of years of cost-cutting at Rangers, the club has no scouting network and part of McParland’s remit is to build one up.
He said: “I’ve pretty much got a blank page at the minute, there’s me that’s all there is”.
“Ours isn’t going to be £1million a year, but we will bring in the best people we can and I’m not that bothered about a massive scouting network”.
Rangers are on the verge of returning to the top flight in Scottish Football after starting the new season in the Championship with 12 wins from their opening 13 games, losing just once.
“For this window I am just going to concentrate on bringing in one or two players in and then look at the scouting network”.
“If we sign two or three in this window it would be brilliant for me”.
“If you can recognise their weaknesses and see if you can improve them then that is equally as important – I have no doubt in Frank’s ability to do that and trust his judgement absolutely”.
Which player would you least like Rangers to lose? .
“Frank’s background is extensive, he knows the first team market and has extensive European contacts as well so it is about bouncing ideas, looking at players and judging them”.
“We don’t want to be a selling club but it’s the nature of the beat”. I’ve always said to the manager it’s not always the player that you want, it’s the player you can get.
“Obviously the higher you are playing and if we did get up then it will be easier to get better players”.
“That was a hard one at the time. A lot of clubs wanted him and a lot of clubs didn’t want him”, McParland recalls. The first place we should be looking is [Scotland].
As a result, Warburton will want to avoid too many departures in January, as it will be crucial that they keep a stable feeling around their squad, to ensure that their form doesn’t dip.
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“They are young players playing in the under 17s and 20s and they’re in the Rangers first-team squad”. You can buy a player for £1m and it quickly becomes five.
