RONALD DE BOER insists Rangers will have to wait until later in the year if they want to attempt to lure twin brother Frank to Ibrox.

The Light Blues board have started their search for Mark Warburton’s replacement after he and assistant David Weir quit the club last week.

Rangers are likely to install an interim boss to see them through to the end of the season before appointing Warburton’s successor on a permanent basis ahead of the new Premiership campaign and potential Europa League qualifiers.

Former Ajax and Inter Milan manager de Boer admitted over the weekend that he would be willing to speak to Rangers about a return to Ibrox.

Read more: Interim Ibrox boss must have short-term success if Rangers are to have long-term ambitions

But Ronald believes Gers chiefs will have to be patient in their approach and bide their time before making a move to take his brother to Glasgow.

"He will never take a team at this time of year," the former Netherlands midfielder told BBC Scotland.

"Frank won't go into that (whether there has been an approach from Rangers) but he told me, and I knew this already, that he's waiting probably until the end of April and then he will take his decision on what options are on the table.

"He wants to have a decent run up. He had this lesson with Inter Milan when he had only two weeks to start the league, he couldn't really prepare the team. I think he learned from that so he wants to have a good pre-season and get to know the players very well.

Read more: Interim Ibrox boss must have short-term success if Rangers are to have long-term ambitions

"He will never take, for example, the Rangers job just now. That's not in question.

"He has his philosophy. Do they stand close to his philosophy and how he wants to play? Is there a chance to buy players, all these kind of things.

"He has to observe the team itself, how strong it is and are the players able to fulfil his thoughts?

“Frank will play forward so he wants players who can play in small spaces, who can dribble and are willing to go forward. That's really important."