# BREAKING: Derek McInnes Agrees to Let THREE Rangers Players Leave After New Signings Arrive!
Big changes are underway at Ibrox as Derek McInnes continues to reshape the Rangers squad following his summer arrival from Hearts, with reports suggesting the manager has given the green light for at least three fringe or unwanted players to depart before the transfer window shuts. It has been a whirlwind few months for the Light Blues since McInnes swapped Tynecastle for Ibrox in June, and the scale of the rebuild he inherited is becoming clearer by the week. Anyone who has followed Rangers’ summer business will know this is not a squad being tinkered with at the edges. It is a squad being pulled apart and rebuilt, and that inevitably means as many players heading for the exit door as walking in through it.
Since taking charge, McInnes has already sanctioned a striking volume of incoming transfer activity, bringing in a host of new faces as he looks to stamp his own identity on a group of players largely assembled under previous regimes. Lawrence Shankland followed him through the door from Tynecastle, a marquee arrival given his goalscoring pedigree in Scottish football and his near miss at winning the title with Hearts last term. Dan Neil arrived on a free transfer from Sunderland, giving McInnes another body in the middle of the park with Championship pedigree and Premier League experience to call upon. Ross McCrorie’s return to Ibrox from Aberdeen added a versatile, homegrown option who understands the demands of playing for one of the Old Firm clubs. Add in the goalkeeping reinforcements, defensive additions and the promise of further business before deadline day, and it paints a picture of a manager determined to leave his fingerprints all over this squad as quickly as possible.
But with so many players walking in, the maths of a modern football squad dictate that others have to walk out, and that is where the latest reports concerning three departures come in. Rangers have never been shy about moving players on when a new manager arrives with his own ideas, and McInnes is no exception. Having worked under intense scrutiny at Aberdeen for the best part of a decade and enjoyed a productive spell at Hearts, McInnes knows exactly the kind of squad depth and profile he wants, and he has not been afraid to say publicly that further business, both in and out, remains on the agenda before the window closes in Scotland.
Top of the list when it comes to potential departures is John Souttar, whose long-term future at Ibrox has been the subject of persistent speculation for weeks. The defender did not travel with the rest of the squad for pre-season training in Spain, a decision that immediately fuelled talk that his time at the club was coming to an end. Souttar has had an injury-hit spell since returning to Rangers, and while his quality on his day is not in question, McInnes appears to have already made up his mind that a fresh start elsewhere would suit all parties. Reports have suggested interest from clubs south of the border, and a reunion with a familiar face at a Championship club has also been mooted as a possible destination. For a defender who has represented Scotland and played for two of the biggest clubs north of the border, a move away from Ibrox this summer would mark a significant moment in his career, but it also underlines just how ruthless McInnes is prepared to be as he reshapes the backline to his own specifications.
Alongside Souttar, another player strongly tipped to follow him out of Ibrox is Danilo, who also stayed behind during the pre-season training camp. His absence from that squad sent a similar message to supporters and pundits alike: here is a player who is no longer part of the manager’s plans. Interest in Danilo has reportedly come from several directions, with suggestions of admirers in South America, Cyprus and the Netherlands all circling a player who arrived at Ibrox with plenty of promise but has struggled to nail down a consistent role in the side. For McInnes, freeing up space in the squad, and potentially recouping a fee, would allow further investment in the areas he has identified as priorities, chiefly out wide and at the back, where he has been vocal about the club’s lack of options.
The third name most commonly linked with an Ibrox exit is Nicolas Raskin, and this is where things get considerably more complicated for Rangers supporters to stomach. Raskin has been one of the more talented performers to wear the light blue jersey in recent seasons, a combative, technically gifted Belgian international who has drawn admiring glances from clubs across Europe. Reports have suggested that Rangers have already knocked back opening offers for the midfielder, unwilling to sanction a cut-price departure for one of their most saleable assets, but with suitors reportedly circling and a valuation in excess of twenty million pounds being touted in some quarters, it would represent one of the most significant sales in the club’s recent history if it goes through. McInnes himself has been asked directly about the swirling speculation and has been careful in his public comments, choosing not to inflame the situation while also confirming that the club does have a price in mind at which they would be willing to do business. That is about as close to an admission as fans are likely to get that, while nobody at Ibrox wants to sell their best players, the finances of a summer rebuild sometimes leave clubs with little choice but to cash in when the right offer materialises.
It is worth stepping back for a moment to consider just how significant this kind of turnover is for a club the size of Rangers. Managerial changes at Ibrox rarely happen quietly, and every new appointment tends to bring with it a period of upheaval as the incoming boss stamps his authority on the dressing room. McInnes, for all that he is a boyhood Rangers supporter who once played for the club under Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat, has not been sentimental in his approach to the squad he inherited from Danny Röhl. Röhl’s own tenure at Ibrox lasted less than eight months before he left for Red Bull Salzburg, and McInnes was appointed on a three-year deal shortly afterwards, arriving with a reputation built on long, stable spells at Aberdeen and a near-miss title challenge with Hearts. That kind of managerial pedigree buys patience with supporters, but it also comes with an expectation that results will follow quickly, and McInnes appears to understand that a squad overhaul, uncomfortable as it might be for those on the fringes, is a necessary part of delivering on that expectation.
There is also a broader context to consider when it comes to Rangers’ business this summer. The club’s ownership group, headed by Andrew Cavenagh, has made bold promises about the direction of the club, and early indications are that the purse strings have been loosened to back McInnes in the transfer market. Nine new signings had already arrived by the middle of August, an extraordinary rate of turnover even by the standards of a club used to conducting wholesale summer rebuilds. Names like Cammy Devlin, Ben Godfrey, Ivor Pandur and Vanja Dragojevic have all been added to the ranks, alongside the headline arrivals of Shankland, Neil and McCrorie, giving McInnes a much deeper and more varied pool of options than the one he inherited. But that depth comes at a cost, both financially and in terms of squad harmony, and it is precisely why supporters have been braced for a wave of departures to balance the books and trim a bloated squad down to a workable size.
McInnes has been refreshingly candid in his recent press conferences about the scale of the job still facing him. Speaking after a difficult start to the domestic season, the Rangers boss admitted that his side are still searching for their first win under his management, a sobering reality check for a club with the history and expectation that comes with playing at Ibrox. He has spoken about the defensive frailties in his squad, going as far as to say the club are “playing with fire” given the lack of specialist cover at the back, particularly on the left side of defence. Injuries have not helped his cause either, with reports of a key defender facing an extended spell on the sidelines and a forward ruled out for a significant period with a serious knee injury. Against that backdrop, it is little surprise that incomings have continued to dominate the agenda even as speculation mounts over outgoings, with a winger reportedly closing in on a move from a Dutch club and further additions expected in the full-back and forward areas before the deadline arrives.
For supporters, the emotional calculus of all this business is not straightforward. There is excitement at the calibre of some of the new arrivals and genuine belief that McInnes, given time and the right tools, can be the man to finally deliver sustained success at Ibrox after a period of instability in the dugout. But there is also anxiety about seeing familiar faces shown the door, particularly a player of Raskin’s undoubted talent, and nervousness about whether a squad assembled so quickly and in such volume can gel in time to mount a serious title challenge. Scottish football supporters have seen this story before: a new manager arrives with a mandate to overhaul the squad, spends big, sells big, and then faces an anxious few months while the new-look team finds its feet. The hope at Ibrox will be that this rebuild follows the pattern of success rather than the alternative, and that the sacrifices being made now, in terms of departing players and squad disruption, pay dividends further down the line.
It is also worth noting the human side of these stories, something that can get lost amid the churn of transfer speculation and click-driven headlines. For players like Souttar and Danilo, a move away from Ibrox represents a significant juncture in their careers, one shaped by injuries, opportunity, and the simple reality that a new manager wants his own players in key positions. Neither player has done anything to disgrace themselves during their time at the club, and both will move on, if the reports prove accurate, with the goodwill of a fanbase that understands the pragmatic realities of running a modern football club. Raskin’s situation is somewhat different, given his obvious ability and the genuine reluctance among supporters to see him leave, but even here, football finance dictates that sometimes the biggest offers cannot be turned down, however painful it might be to watch a talented player depart for a rival elsewhere in Europe.
Looking ahead, the next fortnight promises to be pivotal for Rangers as the transfer window edges towards its Scottish deadline on the third of September, later than the cut-off south of the border. McInnes has made no secret of his desire to add further attacking width to his squad, and reports suggest he is keen to bring in cover in defence as a matter of urgency given the current injury situation. Whether the three widely tipped departures materialise exactly as reported remains to be seen; transfer speculation in the modern game moves quickly, and deals that look close to completion can collapse just as fast as rumours that seem far-fetched can suddenly become reality. What does seem clear, though, is that McInnes is not finished reshaping this Rangers squad, and supporters should expect further twists before the window shuts for good.
There is a case to be made that this kind of aggressive squad turnover is exactly what was needed at Ibrox after a period of relative stagnation. Rangers have cycled through managers at a rate that would unsettle even the most resilient dressing room, and there is an argument that decisive, even ruthless, action from a new head coach is preferable to the kind of drift that characterised parts of the club’s recent history. McInnes, for all the pressure that comes with managing the club he supported as a boy, has at least shown he is willing to make the tough calls early rather than let uncertainty over player futures drag on into the season. Whether that proves to be the right approach will only become clear over the coming months, as the new-look squad begins to find its rhythm and the early-season wobbles either settle down or harden into a genuine crisis.
For now, all eyes at Ibrox remain fixed on the incomings and outgoings ledger, with fans refreshing transfer news feeds daily in the hope of updates on Souttar, Danilo and Raskin, as well as any fresh names who might emerge as potential departures in the days ahead. McInnes has been careful not to confirm specifics publicly, preferring instead to let the club’s football operations staff handle the finer details of negotiations while he focuses on preparing the squad for a testing run of domestic and European fixtures. But the direction of travel looks unmistakable: this is a Rangers squad being remade in the new manager’s image, and however uncomfortable that process might be for those caught on the wrong side of it, it is exactly the kind of decisive action that many supporters have been demanding for years. Whether it ultimately delivers the trophies that have proven elusive in recent seasons remains the only question that truly matters at Ibrox, and one that only time, and the remainder of this frantic summer transfer window, can answer.