Rangers will look to rebuild in the summer with Philippe Clement hoping to redress the imbalance that he inherited when he arrived as manager.
The Gers boss has already seen an improvement, including several members of his squad becoming key players when it looked like they were certain to be heading out the door – names like Ridvan Yilmaz and Dujon Sterling spring to mind.
Philippe Clement knows where he needs to strengthen, however, he also needs to target Scottish players and, in particular, players who would be classed as home grown and benefit Rangers in Europe.
How Philippe Clement can improve Rangers home grown issue
The UEFA quotas are well known to Rangers fans after some of the problems we have had this season.
In terms of numbers, we have frequently struggled to scrape together eight home grown players with four coming from our own academy.
Developing our own talent is one way to improve this situation, but that can take time.
A quicker fix is signing players who already tick that box.
There is a mixture of young and more experienced options available this summer, three of whom are available on free transfers.
One of the tasks facing Philippe Clement is moving out the players in his squad who aren’t contributing for Rangers.
Kieran Dowell has had a disastrous first season at the club and, after the signing of Mohamed Diomande, is even further down the pecking order – if he gets fit.
There would be takers in England for someone who has performed consistently in the Championship and he would also be easy to replace, albeit with a somewhat controversial option.
Who could Rangers target to fix UEFA quota problem
Stuart Armstrong, at 31-years old, is the same age as Ryan Jack, but he doesn’t have a problem with availability or history of injuries.
Yes, he played for Celtic, but with five goals and six assists for the Premier League hopefuls, he is capable of producing numbers from a deeper role.
Jon McLaughlin will leave Rangers with his head held high which means that another backup will have to be considered.
Liam Kelly might prefer regular football instead, but his wages wouldn’t be expensive and he has been a consistent performer in the Scottish Premiership for some time now – he would also be classed as club trained player given his time coming at Auchenhowie.
Another option in midfield is Connor Barron, he just seems like a no brainer and an obvious replacement for Jack.
The Scotland Under-21 international has a similar profile to Jack but is 10 years younger and has a higher ceiling in terms of potential.
Barron is also exactly the type of player that Clement loves in terms of attitude and endeavour.
One of Scotland’s most exciting talents wouldn’t come cheap, but as we’ve seen with Lewis Ferguson, can we really afford to let someone like Lennon Miller slip through our fingers?
There will be plenty of interest in the teenager this summer and there is a reason why Rangers have already been linked.
Finally, David Watson at Kilmarnock has shown that he has all the ability to kick on and be a really good player.
He has brought goals and assists for Derek McInnes’ side and has shown a versatility by playing in no less than four different positions this season.
Rangers need to sign Scottish players this summer, but would you take any of these ones?
