RANGERS will go into their Champions League second qualifying round tie against Kaunas without any further additions to their squad after they were unable to conclude a deal for midfielder Steven Davis before last night's Uefa transfer deadline.
Davis spent a successful period on loan with Rangers in the final four months of last season and is keen to join the team he supported as a boy on a permanent basis. So far, however, the Ibrox club have been unable to negotiate a fee for the 23-year
-old with his current employers, Fulham.
Although the English Premier League outfit are now understood to have lowered their initial £4million valuation of the Northern Ireland international, who has remained at home while they travel to South Korea on a pre-season trip, Rangers could not push a move through last night.
They remain keen to recruit Davis, especially as captain Barry Ferguson will be sidelined until October with an ankle injury, but will now rely on their existing midfield resources to see them through the crucial tie against Kaunas.
The first leg against the Lithuanian champions takes place at Ibrox next Wednesday night with the return six days later in Kaunas. Elimination in the second qualifying round would leave last season's Uefa Cup finalists without any European football for the rest of the campaign.
Rangers manager Walter Smith will be optimistic his current squad are good enough to overcome Kaunas, however, and is likely to step up his search for midfield reinforcements with the potentially much tougher third and final qualifying round in mind.
The Uefa signing deadline for that stage of the Champions League, the gateway to the lucrative group phase of the competition, is 7 August. While Rangers will again be seeded in the third qualifying round, they could find themselves facing teams of the calibre of Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, Dinamo Kiev, Standard Liege, Levski Sofia and Twente Enschede.
In addition to his pursuit of Davis, Smith has also been linked with a move for Portuguese midfielder Pedro Mendes. The 29-year-old former Porto and Tottenham player is currently with Portsmouth. Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson is also understood to be on Smith's radar with the 21-year-old understudy to England international Stewart Downing available on loan.
The full article contains 384 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
