OPINION
The blizzard of transfer activity at Rangers shows no signs of abating as Steven Gerrard and Mark Allen continue to overhaul the squad that failed last season.
Gerrard has sanctioned the arrivals of eight new players since his May appointment in what has been a whirlwind of lofted shirts, welcome videos and player registrations.
But the Liverpool icon’s business appears far from done judging by well-sourced media reports.
The reliable Football Insider claim Rangers have firmed up their interest in Millwall centre-back Jake Cooper by tabling a £3million.
It is said the outcome of the offer for the 23-year-old defender is not yet known but the sums involved demonstrate Gerrard’s success at squeezing money out of the board following years of penny pinching.
Earlier in the day, Lassana Coulibaly became the eighth player through the door at Ibrox this summer following Allan McGregor, Jon Flanagan, Scott Arfield, Jamie Murphy, Connor Goldson, Nikola Katic and Ovie Ejaria.
Unlike in previous windows, Rangers have actually spent fairly big on a number of the players, with Arfield made their top earner on £25,000-a-week, Goldson signed from Brighton for a fee of around £3million and seven-figure fees also spent on Murphy and Katic.
Roma striker Umar Sadiq is also expected to join shortly as the Light Blues concentrate on stiffening a spine that was too frequently demolished by the Celtic juggernaut in 2017-18.
However, the audacious attempt to blow rival clubs out of the water in the race for Cooper is the new manager’s biggest transfer statement yet.
It shows the spending is not over, was not restricted to last month’s deals and it will not be a case of loans and freebies before the window shuts on 9 August.
Instead, the board are still backing the manager big time and finally putting their wads where their mouths are.