Rangers manager Michael Beale confirms interest in Nicolas Raskin and talks about imminent arrivals

Rangers manager Michael Beale has spoken about the club’s transfer targets and is confident that his squad will be a lot stronger if pending deals get over the line.

The Ibrox boss also revealed that he has fielded enquiries about some of his players as he looks to begin reshaping his squad in the current window.

Beale is doing his first business since succeeding Giovanni van Bronckhorst in Govan, and the club have already agreed a fee with Norwich City for playmaker Todd Cantwell.

Asked when a deal might be announced, he said “We’re very close on one or two bits but I don’t really want to elaborate. We’ll announce it when it’s done.”

Despite initially saying that he didn’t want to discuss transfers, the manager then opened up about an interest in Standard Liege’s Nicolas Raskin, saying he “likes to compliment good players.”

“Another good player,” he said. “A player I remember a lot from the time we played Standard Liege.

“He missed the first game against Rangers, the night Kemar Roofe scored that amazing goal, if you remember.

“But he played in the second leg and he’s a player that I’m aware of. A very good player that’s obviously out of contract in the summer and is attracting a lot of attention.

“There’s an interest from us but I’m sure there is from a number of clubs.”

Rangers have also been keen on Swansea City forward Morgan Whittaker, with the Swans’ manager Russell Martin having revealed that an offer for the player had been rejected.

Martin intends to name the player in his squad for Saturday’s game against QPR and knows that with the player having had a loan spell at Plymouth, taking to the field would mean he couldn’t play for a third club this season.

Beale said there was no “stand-off” over a transfer fee, after Martin reiterated on Friday that there hadn’t been a bid that met the Welsh club’s valuation.

“We’re doing the business in private but obviously in South Wales they’ve spoken out about it.” the Rangers boss said.

“We don’t want to add to that. The boy’s gone back there off a loan and could be in their squad this weekend. If he is in the squad then he’s their player (for the remainder of the season).”

Since taking over, Beale has been clear that he felt there were areas in the squad he wanted to change, and he thinks he would have a much stronger squad if he managed to land all of his targets.

He said: “It’s definitely getting stronger in terms of the imminent arrivals if they get over the line and come in.

“With this window it’s been fairly quiet in all the league but as we creep towards the end of the month, more things become available and more opportunities come up.

“It’s important that we recruit for the areas I think we need. If we can’t get everyone this window then we’ll move to the summer.

“I do feel we need to add players to the squad for sure.”

While the focus has been on players coming in the door at Ibrox, Beale revealed he has also had some interest in those already at the club.

He added: “In the last 24 hours there’s been some enquiries about one or two of our players, which would be interesting.

“The focus is on this game now but it could be that one or two of ours go out either temporarily or permanently because they want to play.”