By support

2nd Jun, 2017 | 10:08am

Kevin Thomson: Rangers need to bring in players capable of competing with Celtic stars

By Harvey Byrne

Former midfielder Kevin Thomson believes that Rangers need to bring in players capable of competing with Celtic stars like Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair.

The Hoops continued their dominance over the rest of Scotland last season as they went the entire league campaign unbeaten and claimed their sixth consecutive Premiership title.

The club’s success has largely been helped by the Glasgow giants’ last summer business, which includes summer appointment Brendan Rodgers alongside the incomings of Sinclair, Dembele and Cristian Gamboa.

Both Sinclair and Dembele were nominated for the Premiership player of the year award, which Sinclair ended up winning and now Thomson has told that Rangers need to bring in players now capable of challenging the the impressive Celtic team.

“I just had Scotty (Scott Brown) round for a coffee and we were talking about what it is going to be like next season and how well they have done this season,” told Thomson, as quoted by the Evening Times.

“When you put it into context what Brendan (Rodgers) signed – (Moussa) Dembele and (Scott) Sinclair – and then (Stuart) Armstrong came from nowhere and Scotty so you had four players who were all up there and all four could have claimed all the awards.

“That is the challenge for Rangers in respect of whoever they bring in they need to be players that are capable of producing on a Saturday and come the end of the season be up for the awards. That is the kind of standard of player they need to catch up.

“That is going to be the challenge for Rangers and they need players capable of competing with boys like that.”

Rangers struggled in their first season back in the Premiership since their demotion and as well as finishing in third place and 39 points below Celtic they also fell to five defeats against the Hoops in six matches.

Manager Pedro Caixinha will now be looking to close the gap and he has already brought in Portuguese veteran Bruno Alves alongside Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack.

The club have also been linked with moves for Graham Dorrans and Benfica duo Daniel Candeias and Dalcio and fans will certainly be excited by the names linked with joining in comparison to last summer’s business.

In other Rangers news, Derek Johnstone has given his verdict on the Gers signing Alves.

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