McLeish 'almost there' in recruitment drive

Rangers manager Alex McLeish is convinced his new-look squad is just a couple of signings away from completion.

McLeish has been busy over the summer bringing in new recruits following last season’s disastrous campaign.

Dado Prso, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Alex Rae, Nacho Novo, Dragan Mladenovic and Marvin Andrews have already been drafted in but the Gers boss insisted he wanted more new faces to maximise the challenge to champions Celtic.

He told Rangers News: “I think we are almost there. I feel we do need a couple of possible additions.

“We would have to balance the books and one or two players will have to leave. That’s the nature of the game.

“Then I would certainly be much more comfortable but I have been quite pleased with the way things have been going.”

Left-back is a priority with Michael Ball missing pre-season games because of lack of fitness.

One player McLeish would be pleased to move on is defender Craig Moore, who was stripped of the captaincy when he opted to play for Australia in the Olympics.

However, there have so far been no offers for the player, with the fact he is about to spend weeks in Greece presumably a factor.

McLeish said: “There has been some speculation about a couple of clubs in England but we have not had contact from anyone.

“The situation remains the same. Craig will go to play in the Olympics and we agreed mutually that we would appoint a new captain and Craig would move on.”

Rangers will complete their pre-season preparations with a game against Tottenham at Ibrox tonight and a weekend tournament in Newcastle.

The latter will see them play the hosts at 3pm on Saturday and then either Sporting Lisbon or Feyenoord the following day.

Friday is also an important date on the calendar as Rangers will learn their Champions League qualifying-round opponents.