Ex-Ibrox defender Arthur Numan believes it is imperative that Rangers’ new signings find the time to learn about Scottish football.
Manager Pedro Caixinha has only been in charge at the club for a couple of months, but he has already set about making wholesale changes to the first-team squad ahead of the new season.
The Portuguese has added no fewer than five new players in Bruno Alves, Ryan Jack, Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio and Daniel Candeias, with as many as four further signings lined up in the coming weeks.
But Numan, who won three Scottish Premiership titles with Rangers between 1998 and 2003, has urged the Ibrox new recruits to become accustomed to the Scottish lifestyle as early as possible.
He told the Daily Record: “The dressing room is important for getting to know each other. That is where the pre-season training camp can be important because you have two weeks together and learn about each other.
“But on the park it’s important they find out about Scottish football. It took me a couple of weeks because in Holland it was a different style.
“We were based on a possession game but you don’t get time in Scotland, especially in the smaller grounds. We came under pressure so quickly.”
The Rangers first-team squad have been back in training at Auchenhowie for the last two weeks, given some of the new faces time to integrate into the setup well ahead of the 2017-18 season.
Yet although the domestic campaign does not begin for Rangers until August, the Scottish club will be in action later this month as their Europa League qualifying campaign takes full flight.
HJK Helsinki goalscorer Alfredo Morelos, Mexican international duo Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera, and Norwich City midfielder Graham Dorrans are the four players Caixinha also hopes to have added to his squad prior to the tournament.
However, three of the four are reportedly awaiting work permits ahead of their proposed moves to the club, while Rangers have yet to agree a fee with Norwich for Dorrans.