Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has to be wary how he handles players that he no longer requires at the club, according to former light blues midfielder Alex Rae.

Caixinha has drafted in a host of new arrivals at Ibrox over the last couple of weeks as he looks to improve the standard of player at the club and bridge the enormous gap between Rangers and Celtic last season.

But the Portuguese has been left with a raft of players still contracted to the club from the Mark Warburton era that he has deemed surplus to requirements.

One of those, Harry Forrester, has already fallen foul of Caixinha’s hard line on discipline, and has been ordered to stay away from the training ground.

And Rae, who experienced a similar situation as manager of St Mirren, says that Caixinha has to tread carefully to avoid disgruntled players becoming the enemy within.

“We have all been at clubs where you are made to come in early or late, been asked to travel to reserve games in the back and beyond, it’s just a tactic from the management team to try and force players out of the door,” Rae said.

“The issue they have is that these players are on so much money. It’s a different kettle of fish if it’s players on a few hundred quid when the manager had all the power.

“These days it’s about the player and it’s about what suits them, and they’ll sit tight until the club comes up with a compromise.

“The hardest part will be trying to get the players who aren’t in his plans out of the door as some of them are on two and three-year contracts.

“If Pedro thinks that is the way to go then fine as I’ve been a player and a manager and know how both think.

“If you are on six or seven thousand pounds a week then it’s very easy to sit tight and say they’ll see it out. I know the mentality and know how they work, they’ll sit there and believe they can see the manager out of the door first. There were probably a few players at St Mirren last season thinking that as well.

“It’s just the nature of the game and it’s a battle of wits but agents are very much a part of that game.

“How poisonous that will be depends and whether Pedro shifts them on the youth department.

“I know the youth department probably won’t want them either because they want nurture young kids and they won’t want senior players moping about.

“It depends on the player and their application when they are moved there as you want to exclude them and the dynamics at Murray Park are such that you can put them in the other part of the building so they won’t be involved with the first team.”

Rae hopes that the hiring of director of football Mark Allen may help to facilitate the exit of high-earning players by removing the onus for getting them out of the Ibrox door from Caixinha’s shoulders alone.

“If you are talking about a guy on a three-year deal earning seven grand a week then it’s the best part of a million quid, less tax,” he said.

“You are then talking about half a million pounds and then you have to come an agreement in between that figure. Can you find another team for that player?

“You aren’t talking about buttons and there’s a new director of football been brought in and I’d imagine that’ll be part of his remit to try and facilitate these players out the door and it takes it out of the manager’s hands.

“It takes the personal side away from it.”