MARK WARBURTON reckons he won’t need to utilise the loan market much this summer after bolstering his Rangers ranks with eight new recruits.
The Light Blues boss has had a productive few weeks in the transfer market as he has added strength and depth to his squad ahead of the new campaign.
Warburton has always been a strong advocate of loan deals but there is less requirement to bring temporary fixes into Ibrox this time around.
He said: “The problem with that is when you get the permanent signings in and you take a loan, you have got to make sure they get enough pitch time.
“If we are going to take players from top Premier League clubs, they have got to play football. They need to play at least one every three or be involved in two out of three games.
“Start one, come on as a sub, not be involved. That type of ratio. If we don't do that then we have got a problem.
“If I look at the team now, if we get a fourth centre half in, we have got full-back cover, we have got two great goalkeepers, I look at Barton, Halliday, Holty, Kranjcar, Rossiter, Forrester, Crooks, then I am looking at O'Halloran, Forrester again, McKay, and we have got options.
“Where is the loanee going to play? If we get an outstanding loanee then we will move for him but he has got to be better than what we have got.”
Warburton had success with Gedion Zelalem and Dominic Ball last season as they joined from Arsenal and Spurs respectively, while Nathan Oduwa and Billy King also played their part in the Gers’ title triumph.
But the Ibrox boss won’t bring young players north of the border if there is no benefit to either party in the long run.
Warburton said: "[There is] not [an unwritten understanding] that he has to play. It is more a case of why you take him.
“It is like people who go on holiday and hire a car. They drive it from the airport to the hotel, leave it for two weeks and take it back to the airport. So why are you getting a hire car?
“So, for us, why take a loan? We have got to use him and I am not sure we can offer the amount of pitch time.
“Look at Gedion last year. He played X number of games, had a lot of pitch time and would have been one of the best loans at Arsenal. Everyone won from that. Dom Ball likewise.
“Everyone won from Dom's loan. We have got to make sure that we can offer at least 30, 35 per cent of the games, minimum to help their development. Otherwise, why take him?”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here