Rangers will not appoint their new manager until next week at the very earliest, according to Sky Sports News.
The broadcaster claimed on their website that the club is still drawing up a list of candidates for the vacant post and has yet to conduct any interviews.
It has been widely report that Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes is the No1 choice of the Ibrox club and that they are willing to meet the £1.5million release clause needed to prise him from Pittodrie.
McInnes insisted at his weekly media briefing on Thursday that neither he nor Aberdeen have received an approach from Rangers about replacing the sacked Pedro Caixinha.
Asked about interest from Rangers, McInnes said: “No. Like I said at last week’s press conference and after last week’s game, before last week’s game, my job is here. It’s not to deal with speculation.
“I’d rather be speaking about the fact that we have three players in the Scotland squad, looking forward to that, the fact that we are only a point behind [Celtic] and we responded with a good result last week.
“And we are here to talk about the Hamilton game, obviously, on Saturday, so the job is ongoing.”
The former Scotland midfielder has been in charge at Aberdeen since April 2013 and has steered the club to consecutive runners-up positions in the SPL in the last three seasons.
Last season, the Dons finished nine points in front of a Rangers side managed initially by Mark Warburton and latterly by Caixinha.
Aberdeen beat Ross County 2-1 at the weekend to close to within a point of Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.
OPINION
Understandably, McInnes is being coy about interest from Rangers. He will not want to go public with anything related to one of his club’s major rivals until the deal is done. That seems increasingly likely, even though no appointment seems forthcoming for at least four or five days. McInnes is the standout candidate as Rangers set their sights on a proven British manager to replace the failed import Caixinha. The Scot knows the SPL inside out, has steered Aberdeen to three consecutive league runners-up spots and is well aware of the expectations at Rangers after five years at the club during his playing days, when he won the treble. He has only won the 2014 Scottish League Cup during his Aberdeen tenure but has worked wonders on a shoestring budget. McInnes represents an upgrade on Caixinha and, assuming his £1.5m transfer fee is not too offputting, appears almost certain to be installed in the Ibrox dugout within the next week or two.