But Caixinha vows he won’t take risks in transfer market

PEDRO CAIXINHA last night pledged to play it safe in the transfer market as he seeks to rebuild Rangers this summer.

Approaching the end of his ‘assessment period’ of his squad, the Portuguese will shortly begin the process of telling players whether or not they have a future under him.

Caixinha is believed to have handed a wanted list of up to ten names to the board, but is hampered by the fact that all bar two of the current party have deals stretching beyond the summer.

And with finances tight, the 46-year-old admits he is likely to target familiar faces from his time in Portugal, Mexico and Qatar — as opposed to players he is unfamiliar with.

‘We say we only know the players when you really work with them on a daily basis,’ he told Rangers TV. ‘One thing is for sure, we have identified the needs and the characteristics which are really good as a starting point.

‘But we want to reduce the risks, so what I am going to look for are players that I know, either from having worked with them before or because I have watched them playing on a regular basis.’

Rangers’ first season back in the top flight has fallen well short of even modest expectations.

But the man who succeeded Mark Warburton as manager in March is adamant he can wheel and deal to get the club back to a position where it can again challenge for major honours.

‘We have our list of targets,’ he said. ‘We are

working on that and we are in the market, that much I can tell you. ‘The club is willing to invest and we know where we can go with that sort of investment. ‘Some players may need a higher investment and others are maybe out of contract. First of all, we will look for men. Only men can take this job. ‘Also, we need strong characters and strong personalities. ‘We need a winning mentality. And, of course, we need quality players.’ Kenny Miller signed a new one-year contract last week which leaves 38-year-old Clint Hill and the barely-used Philippe Senderos as the only two first-team players out of contract in the summer, along with loan players Jon Toral and Emerson Hyndman. But Caixinha, whose team play at Partick Thistle on Sunday, looks likely to tell other players they are free to find new clubs. ‘We have been assessing for a long time,’ he added. ‘And because I am someone who leads by example, I want all our players to know that I will shake his hand and say: “Thank you, but our time ends here.” Or I will say: “Let’s keep going.” ‘I will start those conversations maybe at the beginning of next week. As I always say though, we work until the last day and treat it like it’s the first one. ‘We are professionals. Even for example, when I am about to end a contract my job is to do my very best until the end. ‘You are still defending the badge and you still have a contract with the club. We are all professionals, we all live for football, we all live for Rangers and we all live for winning.’