15 takeaways from major Rangers revamp as Derek McInnes rules in effect and £10m duo fight for Ibrox futures

Rangers are conducting a substantial summer overhaul under Derek McInnes with five signings already secured and further reinforcements expected. Dan Neil became the fifth acquisition after joining Lawrence Shankland, Ross McCrorie, Ben Godfrey and Ivor Pandur at Ibrox.

McInnes has confirmed additional arrivals are anticipated. "It's been good," he said. "A lot of the conversations were ongoing before I came in but getting things over the line isn't always easy. People think it is easy to get signings done but normally when good players are involved more than one team is involved too. The board and the recruitment team should be pleased with their work so far. Clearly there is still more work to do but we are pleased so far. Getting the boys in early is vitally important too. Some signings will take a bit longer which is just the way but getting the early signings is important."

Rangers have submitted a bid approaching £4m for Partizan Belgrade captain Vanja Dragojevic and are competing with Basel for French centre-back Sankhoun Diawara, the 20-year-old Troyes defender. Diawara, a France U19 international, made 14 appearances in Ligue 2 with 12 months remaining on his contract.

Returning midfielder Ross McCrorie has highlighted McInnes's leadership qualities. "The gaffer is a great man-manager he's top in that instance. He's a real leader of men," McCrorie explained. "At Aberdeen I remember it was my first game there was a lot of stuff around Covid at the time. He took us on the pitch at St Johnstone brought in all the players. It was an us against the world mentality and I think you're going to have to bring that in here as well because that's what it's going to be at times it's going to be tough here."

McCrorie added: "The gaffer's all about standards. We had a little mini-team meeting on the pitch the other day and he's just demanding standards. I think that's what you need. We need to have that ruthless edge to us this season and the upcoming seasons if we want to be successful and I think the gaffer's the man to lead us forward. I don't think I know he is."

Reflecting on his return, McCrorie stated: "It's great to be back. It was a good three years at Aberdeen a good three years down at Bristol. I've kicked on massively. I'm not really that smiley face wee boy back in the day who was just excited to be a Rangers player."