Murphy: There may be more signings but Gers are already ready for title race
Jamie Murphy maintains that Rangers will certainly be strong enough for this season’s challenges – even if they don’t manage to get any more deals over the line.
The Light Blues have had a £ 200,000 bid for former Ibrox striker Kyle Lafferty rejected by Hearts.
And manager Steven Gerrard has seen his move to bring Manchester City defender Kean Br yan nor th on a permanent deal fall through at the final hurdle.
That one is unlikely to be resurrected but they are expected to go back in for Lafferty, who is understood to fancy a return to his old club.
Were it to get done it would complete an entire team of signings for Rangers this summer who have already struck deals for Connor Goldson, Scott Arfield, Nikola Katic, Jon Flanagan, Allan Mcgregor, Lassana Coulibaly, Ovie Ejaria, Ryan Kent, Umar Sadiq plus a permanent move for Murphy, who was up on loan from Brighton for the second half of last season.
It is an impressive haul and one which the last named insists offers the Govan club quality as well as quantity.
“I am sure that if we never signed anyone else with the players that we have got we will be more than capable,” said Murphy, a Rangers fan from childhood.
“The new players have come in there and they have settled in really well.
“They are good boys about
changing room, and working hard on the training ground and are doing their stuff out on the pitch. They have been great so far.“The league hasn’t started yet but we have been doing away well in Europe and believe the opportunity is there for us to go on a wee run.
“We were really happy with the win away to Osijek.
“They are a good team who put us under a fair bit of pressure.
“That we were able to withstand it, shows how far we have come as a team.
“So I think we are ready as we are and if we do sign another couple then great.”
Steven Gerrard has said he wants his side to defend “like men” and Murphy confirms that working on keeping opposition attackers out has very much been a priority for the new Rangers manager.
“Defending was a big part of the emphasis when the manager came in,” he said.
“We scored the most goals in the league last season so it isn’t that area that needs to be improved. We have to keep them out.
“Last season it could be frustrating on that front.
“We were either winning games 3- 2 or losing them 3-2. That isn’t ideal.
“The first thing is not conceding. If you do that, you aren’t going to lose the game.
“We need to go out there and entertain and score goals.
“But hopefully we can be secure at the back as well as doing that.”
The man who hit Rangers winner in Croatia was Alfredo Morelos and Murphy is confident the at-times erratic Colombian is set for another big season.
“Yeah, I was delighted for him to score.
“All strikers like to score goals and for him to get his first one of the season and play really well was big for the team,” he said.
“He is always capable of scoring so to get the first one of the way was a big thing. He will go on to score a few.
“People forget he is still a young boy and still learning so he going to miss sometimes.
“If you are a striker and you score every chance, it’s top level, it’s Cristiano Ronaldo stuff.
“That is what everyone looks at but it is a bit unrealistic to compare people like that.
“He’s going to get chances and he’s going to score some and he’s going to miss some.
“That’s the life on a striker. I’m sure Ally Mccoist never scored every chance he got but he scored so many goals for Rangers.”