Derek Johnstone: Rangers boss Mark Warburton should cast his net wider if English market becomes too difficult to shop in

Mark has gone down south to bring players here but the problem is that the money players are on there is absolutely horrendous these days. Even young players that are nowhere near the first team are on fortunes and the deals to bring them here are just too expensive.

You have to pay clubs a fee on top of taking up whatever percentage of the wages and both of those are going up and up at present. It is very hard to get a loan deal done now.

Read more: Derek Johnstone: Rangers midfield dilemma is a welcome problem to solve for Mark Warburton

The top clubs in England are forking out so much money on players, some of it is disgraceful. But that is the market and every player down south is making sure that they are well weighed in.

The manager won’t want to pay over the odds in terms of a loan fee or wages to bring players in but your options become limited at this stage of the season. The best of the free transfers have usually been snapped up and you might have to pay a bit of money to sign a player now.

Read more: Mark Warburton relieved at Martyn Waghorn injury boost as he rules out an Ibrox exit for James Tavernier

If Mark is desperate to get a centre back and a striker and he is finding it difficult then maybe that is what is going to have to happen.

Dave King has said that there is a bit of money to spend and there will be funds available in January but maybe we will have to use that now and spend a bit more before the end of the window.

Mark is restricted in terms of what he can do financially right now and if the chairman says he might have to wait until January then he will have to go along with that.

I think he will find it difficult to get a quality centre-back or forward in at this stage but hopefully he can do just that. There will have to be a lot of hard work put in to get these deals done.

Frank McParland is obviously the main man in terms of Rangers’ scouting and English football is his area so that is why most of the players are coming from there. That is the market that he and the manager know best.

But if it becomes evident that there is no value for money and Rangers can’t shop in England then they will have to look at other areas and broaden their horizons. That could be Germany, Belgium, Holland, Scandinavia, wherever.

Something I have mentioned before is that Rangers should utilise the network of former players we have around the world. There are guys in every corner of the globe that we could tap into to do a bit of scouting or to go to for a recommendation.

It is a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. A phone call could lead you to a player that is worth pursuing.

If you don’t look, you don’t know what is out there so the bigger the scouting network is the better it is for Rangers.

If a potential target speaks to a former player, he can tell them all about the club and the city and sell the move for you.

There is still a role for the ex-players, I think, and they are all invited over to come back to Ibrox a couple of times a season. They are popular with the fans and love the club so they should be utilised to help Rangers get the best quality players in that they can.

Mark won’t just bring in two players to make up the numbers. He needs quality because he is short in two positions.

That could make the difference between having a real go and not having a real go.

You can’t be in a position where you need to score a couple of goals in a game to win it because you aren’t good enough at the back.

You need to build from the back four and make sure you are solid there. If you don’t lose goals, you don’t lose games.

Mark probably feels that he doesn’t have a solid base and that is why another defender is on his wish list. But that could well cost money.

There are plenty of centre-halves going about, but it is about getting one at the required standard that fits into your budget.

If we bring in a better defender than we have already got and a better striker than we have already got then of course that is going to enhance your chances of winning the league.

Hopefully Mark can get the deals he wants done over the line sooner rather than later and he can add the finishing touches to his squad for a shot at the Premiership.