Derek McInnes delivers verdict on Nico Raskin's Rangers future, shares transfer hope and gives injury update

McInnes watched his side end their pre-season preparations with a 0-0 stalemate against EFL Championship side West Ham United at Ibrox on Sunday, and will now look forward to his first competitive game in charge of the Glasgow giants as they begin the new season at Tannadice next week.

The Rangers boss has been extremely active in the transfer window, with Serbian international Vanja Dragojevic’s arrival from Partizan Belgrade last week the club’s seventh new signing of the summer. However, McInnes is hopeful of two new additions at Ibrox in the coming days.

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“We’ll try and address bringing in a couple of key positions into the club,” said McInnes. “The sooner we can get those in the better, I think. We’ve got Vanja done, and we’re just waiting on his visa to get done at the minute. We’re quite hopeful we’ve got one done, and hopefully we’ll get some news in the next 48 hours on that.

“We’re also hopeful we can maybe bring in one more if we can before Friday night. I’d really like that to be the case, because I do think in one or two areas of the pitch we're still a bit short. One is permanent, and one is maybe a loan. Ideally, the two of them will be permanent.

“They're obviously training at other clubs [the players they hope to sign] and doing a bit, they might not be up to exactly where we are, but the intention would be to try and bring them in as soon as possible and get an assessment on that. But I do think that one or two of them could come in to the squad.

“Obviously Nico might be subject to some interest, we're well aware of that, and we always thought he could be a flight risk this summer in the back of the World Cup. So we've reinforced the midfield area, but obviously if nothing comes in for Nico then he's another good player to add to it. The one area of the pitch where we’re really strong is through the middle of the park just now.

“Nico will be back this week, but he won't come into contention for the game on Friday, he's not going to do enough training ahead of that. And I think after as many games played, World Cup exploits, we never planed for Nico to be back for Dundee United, but there will be good options in there, and it's an area of the team we're quite strong.

The 55-year-old manager also offered an update on the fitness of playmaker Thelo Aasgaard, who was forced off midway through the second-half after falling awkwardly under a challenge from West Ham new boy Keiber Lamadrid. The Norwegian stepped up the take the resulting free-kick, and went close with the effort, but was unable to continue beyond that with what appeared to be a shoulder issue.

“Cammy [Devlin] has come down on his calf and Thelo with his shoulder,” said McInnes. “But both will be fine for the weekend. So to get through the game without any injuries pleasing. Ross McCrorie has just opened up his knee a wee bit, so we didn't take any risks with him today. So we're a bit short defensively because we've probably got four games in 12 days coming up, two league games and two cup games in Europe.”