Rangers have been dealt a hammer blow after it was confirmed that Youssef Chermiti will be out of action for an extended period of time after suffering an ACL injury.
In another major early-season setback, it is also understood that left-back Tuur Rommens is set for a spell on the sidelines due to a groin issue.
The injury to Rommens could pave the way for Jayden Meghoma to return on loan from Brentford.
Portuguese striker Chermiti was stretchered off in the 2-1 defeat to Hibs at Ibrox on Sunday as Rangers crashed to another damaging result at the start of the new campaign.
Chermiti had reportedly been the subject of a club-record £22million bid from Galatasaray over the weekend, which was duly rejected by the Ibrox side.
Derek McInnes had been planning to make the 22-year-old a key part of the Rangers attack alongside newly appointed club captain Lawrence Shankland. But the fact that Chermiti could now miss the vast majority of the season ahead is likely to force Rangers into a rethink in terms of their transfer plans.
Youssef Chermiti faces months out of action in a huge blow for Rangers and Derek McInnes
The Ibrox club are in talks with Brentford over a return for Meghoma, with the young left-back having spent last season on loan in Glasgow.
Rangers were already in the market to bolster their full-back options, with AEK Athens’ James Penrice still on their radar. But, ahead of tomorrow night’s crunch Europa League qualifier against Jagiellonia Bialystok, it is the news regarding Chermiti which has rocked the Ibrox club.
A short club statement from Rangers read: ‘Following assessment, striker Youssef Chermiti suffered an ACL injury in Sunday’s match with Hibernian.
‘Youssef will be out of action for a significant period of time. Everyone at Rangers is with him as he begins his recovery.’
At a meeting with shareholders on Monday, Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh had addressed the Galatasaray bid.
Chermiti hurt himself after an energetic challenge on Hibs midfielder Josh Mulligan at Ibrox
‘We won’t ever speak about individual deals and individual players but we will give you the concepts and it will probably get you to where you want,’ he said.
‘When we think about selling a player, there are two things that have to come together. One is that we get the value that is appropriate for the player and the second is that there is time left in the window that we can reinvest those funds quickly and efficiently to be equal or better from a sporting perspective.
‘If both of those things don’t exist, we won’t do a deal. We are not under pressure to sell. That is the mentality when you think about these deals.
‘Selling a player for a bunch of money if you can’t put it back into the squad and replace him or make the squad better is useless. What we care about is winning, not the financial side of it. The sporting side has to come first for us.
‘And to the comment about why would you play a player who had a transfer offer? Going from an offer to where a player goes out the door, there is a huge number of things that have to happen before you would pull a player out of a line-up.
Left-back Jayden Meghoma could be returning to Rangers after an injury for Tuur Rommens
‘Just because someone lobs an unsolicited offer in on one sheet of paper, you don’t yank a player from a really important match.
‘So I don’t regret that mentality at all. I am trying not to talk about the specifics of the question.’
Rangers are still targeting as many as five more new signings before the end of the transfer window – and Chermiti’s injury could have a major impact on their recruitment plans.
Club Brugge right-back Hugo Siquet is on their radar along with Aston Villa’s Kosta Nedeljkovic, whilst PSV winger Couhaib Driouech is poised to complete a £7million switch to Ibrox.
