Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Van Bronckhorst aiming to build ‘quality squad’

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Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst is already making plans for the January transfer window and expects to emerge from it with a “quality squad”.

The new Ibrox boss has been told he is under no obligation to sell players in the transfer window despite a GBP23.5m loss, although Ianis Hagi, Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic and Connor Goldson have been linked with moves down south.

“We have quite a lot of meetings with (sporting director) Ross Wilson so we know what we want to do [and] in which areas we have to be prepared if something happens,” Van Bronckhorst said.

“It’s always good to have the squad you want at the end of the window, it’s never good when you are a less squad than when you came in.

“The objective for us is when the transfer window ends we should have a quality squad as well.”

Rangers take on struggling St Johnstone on Wednesday night, with Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe both still absent.

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Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack has not started a game since February

Jack was expected to feature against Lyon in last week’s Europa League clash but was missing from the squad entirely with Van Bronckhorst admitting there had been a small setback in his recovery from injury.

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He has not started a game since February while Roofe was ruled out for the visit to Hearts on Sunday.

Both will be missing for games in December with Jack not expected to return until after the January shutdown.

Van Bronckhorst said: “Kemar has had a setback and will hopefully return before the winter break.

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Kemar Roofe will miss Rangers’ next few games with a calf injury

“Ryan, we hope to have him back fully fit after the winter break. No fresh injuries from the match on Sunday.”

The manager is also excited to face Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League knockout play-off round in February.

Former Ibrox star Claudio Reyna’s son Gio – an attacking midfielder with Dortmund – was named after the boss and he will come face to face with the 19-year-old American after the clubs were paired in Monday’s draw.

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Rangers will face Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League

He added: “For me, it is an exciting Europa League draw for the club, against a top side in Europe.

“A quality opponent and it is a hard draw, but we want these challenges in football to compete with the best.

“Gio (Reyna) sent a text to my son as they are about the same age, it was great to be drawn against Reyna.

“I’ve known him his full life and visited him a year and a half ago to watch a game. I am very good friends with Claudio and hope he can attend the games.”

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