No January sales at Ibrox, vows Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD insists none of his key Rangers players will be sold during the January transfer window. Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson and deputy chairman John Bennett both emphasised the importance of earning future transfer income during this week’s AGM.

James Tavernier, Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent and Borna Barisic are among those linked with interest from elsewhere, but Gerrard (left) insists it is vital his top performers stay in place for the remainder of their Premiership title bid.

The Rangers boss is confident the club’s board have the same stance and that no significant sales will be sanctioned until the summer. ‘None of our big players will be going anywhere in January,’ said Gerrard, aiming to bounce back from the shock Betfred Cup defeat against St Mirren in

today’s league visit of Motherwell. ‘I’m well aware of the club’s situation and what we need to do moving forward. Of course I totally understand that at some point, we will have to trade someone. I’m not naive enough to think we won’t have to do that. ‘But it’s extremely important we keep our best players certainly in the next window and that they are here for the duration of the season. I think the board are aware of that and want that as well. So we are certainly on the same page. ‘We are at a club where we need to keep active in terms of recruitment and bringing people in. ‘But that also means that, at the right time, the right player might have to move in a different direction.’ Rangers lost £15.9million for the 12 months to June 30 and face a predicted shortfall of £8.8m for the current campaign. Bennett and chairman Douglas Park have agreed to plug that gap as needed, with the former stressing they would not sell players on the cheap after turning down bids for Alfredo Morelos and Kent during the summer. ‘While player trading is the important fourth pillar (of the Rangers model), we’ve not got ourselves in a position where we have to sell to validate the model,’ Bennett told the club’s AGM. ‘Yes, it’s been deficit-funding as we’ve gone on but we’re very fortunate that we have loyal investors. ‘That’s been a deliberate strategy to front-load the investment to make sure we’re not in a position that undervalues our players. Again, you saw that last year and we will not accept that.’