Russell Martin addresses Rangers next transfer business, left-back situation and gives injury update on duo

The 17-year-old winger became the Ibrox club's eighth new recruit of the transfer window on Friday after putting pen to paper on a season-long loan deal and he could make his debut against Motherwell in Saturday's Premiership opener providing international clearance arrives in time.

Martin is overseeing a major rebuild as he looks to put his own stamp on a squad that finished 17 points behind Celtic last season with the backing of the club's new American owners.

And he revealed that there is still plenty more business left to do with a month to go until the transfer deadline.

"We still need more players for sure, and we need to strengthen a couple of key areas," Martin told reporters at his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Fir Park.

"Mikey helps as a lot because he gives us something we don't have. He gives us another option and real flexibility in the top line.

I still think there will be players leaving and players joining. We have to be really willing and open for that change. The club has needed it now we have to be patient during it, and we are, to make sure we get the right ones in."

One player who will not be joining the Rangers ranks is defender Conor Coady. The 32-year-old former England international had been linked with a move to Ibrox for much of the summer but he has instead completed a £2million switch from Leicester City to Wrexham.

Martin indicated that Rangers will be looking to sign a left-back with Max Aarons - a more natural right-back - currently filling the position due to being preferred over both Jefte and Ridvan Yilmaz.

"Max is not going to be the long-term option at left back but he's played there before and he's doing a good job for us," Martin explained.

"The other guys have to do more to put themselves in the frame. They have to do more in terms of being really consistent day in, day out. Jefte has a lot of potential and some really good attributes, but he knows what we think of him and where he needs to improve to really help us on the pitch and help us win games of football.

"Ridvan, we've had really good open and honest conversations. He is sizing up his options. He has a couple of people intersted in him and we'll wait and see what happens on that front."

Martin stressed that Rangers are not in the position of needing to sell players before they can sign any more.

"I don't think we need players to go out," he said. "The ownership group, Kevin [Thelwell, sporting director] and Patrick [Stewart, CEO] have been really good about it. We have a fair few players who have interest in them and who know their careers probably need to move on to play football, and we've still gone and done Mikey and Gassama and other players. By the end of window we definitely can't have them all in here but it's not a case of having to wait or we need them to go first."

Asked whether he is confident he will have a squad that can compete for the title, Martin added: "We'll be really confident and hopefully be the end of the window we'll be really happy.

"We have a squad that can compete now. We certainly have a starting team that can compete and a few around that. We just need some more depth in key areas and a few people that can help us. We're really happy with the way the squad is going. There's been a lot of change which is not always easy, and we're navigating that the best we can."

Martin also provided an update on injured duo Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane confirming neither player will return in time for the trip to Motherwell.

"They're not ready for tomorrow, but they are not far away," he stated. "The injuries are frustrating ones where we just have to be a little bit patient to make sure we don't re-injure them."