Rangers transfer deadline day activity predicted as open secret signing on agenda amid exits update

Derek McInnes has predicted a sole piece of Rangers transfer business on deadline day.

The Light Blues boss watched bids from Besiktas for Nico Raskin bounced back on Wednesday prior to a 2-1 Premiership win at Falkirk. Thelo Aasgaard has departed for Anderlecht in Belgium while Portland Timbers striker Kevin Kelsy is poised to join before Thursday’s 5pm deadline.

Next up in the league is Motherwell at home and the Rangers manager expects striker Kelsy to end what has been a turbulent summer window at Ibrox. McInnes said of transfers and the win at Falkirk: “I’m pleased that we’ve won the game, and I was pleased with certain aspects of our attacking play, but disappointed that we’ve not been able to enjoy the game a bit more in terms of giving Falkirk a lot of encouragement at times.

Derek McInnes on Falkirk 1-2 Rangers

“You’ve got to credit Falkirk: I thought they were the better team for about a 15- or 20-minute period in the second half. In that period, we gifted them some opportunities, certainly gave them encouragement. I thought we played into their barrel. We looked a wee bit dippy at times. These are things, as a young team, we need to make sure we get better at.

“There are so many learnings from the game, but while we’re learning, we’ve got to keep winning games. We’re not the first team to come and win a game without being at our best. I thought we were good, and we passed up some opportunities. You’ve seen a wee hint, a wee flavour of what we can be. I didn’t think the performance was as good as it was at Aberdeen, but we still got the same outcome.

“With everything that’s going on, with a young team at a difficult venue and on a difficult pitch - you’ve got to say it was slippy out there - I thought it was difficult for both sets of players. You just come in, get the three points, get away, and move on to Ibrox on Saturday with two wins behind us. We take the good from it.

Will Rangers make any deadline day transfers?

“There’s no secret that we’ve worked hard to get Kevin here, so, yeah, I think so. There may be one other little thing that we’ll still pick up on when I come off the coach and speak to Jim Gillespie, potentially. But if we can get Kevin and add to our attacking threats, obviously with Youssef's injury, it’s been nearly a month since he got injured, we’ve been looking for that one, and thankfully we’ve got him.

“I just think the club and the team will settle down. I really do. I think the team will settle down, and we’ll get into a rhythm. Obviously it’d be nice to win the next game and get three wins in a row, but that will be a challenge in itself with the way Motherwell have started. I don’t anticipate any more outs, certainly, and I’m not convinced there’ll be any more ins other than the boy you mentioned.”

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