If Rangers did this in January, Andy Halliday would now have them as title favourites

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Andy Halliday reckons if Rangers signed a reputable striker in January, he would now install them as favourites to win the Scottish Premiership.

Light Blues fans went into the January transfer window hoping a No9 would be recruited to provide support for Cyriel Dessers.

Danilo is out injured for the long term, as is Kemar Roofe, and while Fabio Silva was recruited from Wolves on loan, the £35m Portuguese doesn’t appear to be an out-and-out striker.

Abdallah Sima was a potent source of goals for Rangers before heading to AFCON with Senegal. The winger then picked up a serious thigh injury and it has arguably left Rangers short of goal-scoring options.

Former Rangers midfielder Halliday – now with Motherwell after a January move from Hearts – thinks his old club can’t be made title favourites at the moment.

But if they signed a proven goal-scorer last month, then in his eyes, they’d have more of a chance to pip Celtic to the league crown.

Halliday believes Dessers, while he has been playing well of late, is unpredictable and needed competition in the previous window to help Rangers in their quest for more silverware this season.

Andy Halliday on title race

Andy Halliday told the Open Goal podcast: “For me, if Rangers went and got a No9 in January that you think is going to score 15 goals between now and the end of the season, then I’d maybe say ‘d’you know what, they are favourites for the title’.

“And it’s harsh on Dessers because he has done really well recently but it’s one of them, sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get (from him).

“For me – and I’ve said this for the last couple of years and both times I’ve been wrong – but I do think this one is going right down to the wire because I still imagine both clubs are going to drop points – there’s still two Old Firm games.

“(Fabio Silva) doesn’t have a great goalscoring record though. I’m talking about a guy who’s going to get you goals week in, week out. Fabio Silva hasn’t got that on his record.”