Derek McInnes is hoping Rangers will have a quiet January at Ibrox, with moves both in and out kept to a minimum. The Rangers manager is on board with chairman Andrew Cavenagh's recent comments that the club do not expect to be busy in the winter window.
Cavenagh told fan representatives earlier this week that the Light Blues were not planning another major overhaul this winter, having brought in 14 new faces over the summer. McInnes is certainly in agreement with that thinking as he looks to make the most of his squad's new-found stability.
Manager backs chairman's transfer stance
McInnes hopes the board's transfer stance on new arrivals also applies to bids received for his top stars. He said: "Yeah, I think we can cope in terms of numbers. The conversations I've had with both Andrew and Jim [Gillespie, Gers' chief executive] separately were a couple of weeks ago, after the Celtic game. We spoke about the need for January not to become an unsettling one for us."
"We spoke about the importance of keeping the squad together. We feel that, by the beginning of December, we could have the injured boys back fit. That will feel like signing three new players, with Cammy Devlin, Daisuke Yokota and Lawrence Shankland bolstering the squad."
"What the chairman said reflects the conversation we've had. We don't expect to be busy in January at all. For me, that's really good to hear and good to work towards. Hopefully, the players can just work towards this season and we can be as strong as we can."
Injury updates and return targets
Skipper Shankland had been expected to be out of action until the new year after undergoing hamstring surgery. But McInnes revealed the striker is pushing hard to be back in time for the Premier Sports Cup final, should his side battle past Aberdeen later this month to make the December 13 showpiece.
Fellow crock Youssef Chermiti faces an even lengthier lay-off after suffering a devastating knee ligament rupture. But his boss has challenged the Portuguese hitman to push hard in the hope of playing again this season.
McInnes, who confirmed Ross McCrorie will miss Saturday night's trip to Dundee with a hamstring strain, said: "You can cut corners with these types of injuries, but you've got to do the hard yards to come back even stronger and better than ever. Before he knows it, Youssef will be back here joining us."
"Hopefully, we'll see him before the end of the season, even if it's the last part of the season. The likes of Cammy, Daisuke and Lawrence are probably thinking about trying to get back for the start of December. There may well be a cup final there as some sort of carrot. We've still got a semi-final to deal with, of course."
"Youssef will be thinking he has to work towards trying to play before the end of the season if he can. There are all these little milestones that the physios and doctors will put in front of him. He's just got to slowly but surely make his way forward. In all probability, playing again this year is going to be a challenge for him."
Squad mindset ahead of Dundee trip
McInnes has warned his team they can't afford to drop their levels like they did in the second half of last week's win over Kilmarnock. But he was thrilled to see his players double down on their work building up to the showdown with Steven Pressley's Dark Blues.
He said: "I gave a lot of them the option to take Monday off because they had been travelling, and not one of them took it. They all came in. We thought it was an opportunity for them just not to think about football, be with their families and all the rest of it, but they all came in, barring one or two who had felt the effects of the bug that was going about."
"That is encouraging — unless their family lives are no great and they want to come into work! I've played with plenty of players like that! They had the option to come in. It wasn't a test. For me, it was genuinely about taking the time off if they wanted it. They all responded on Sunday to the message in the group chat saying they wanted to be in, which was good."
"We've got to make sure we're maximising the effort and the mindset all the time, ready to go for the next challenge. The next challenge is just around the corner tomorrow in Dundee and the game is going to need our full attention."
