Derek McInnes has openly cautioned that Rangers are effectively "playing with fire" after a spate of injuries has left the club with a very limited pool of defensive options. The manager disclosed that Tuur Rommens will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after sustaining a groin strain in the dying minutes of Sunday’s Scottish Premiership loss to Hibernian. That setback is only one piece of a larger puzzle that is currently troubling the Glasgow side. In addition to Rommens’ injury, Rangers have been forced to accelerate their hunt for a new striker after Youssef Chermiti suffered an anterior cruciate ligament rupture during the same match, an injury that is expected to keep him out for a "significant period of time." The dual blows come at a time when the club’s start to the league campaign has been far from ideal – they have managed just a single point from their first two Premiership fixtures, a return that has heightened the sense of urgency around squad reinforcement.
McInnes admitted that the current roster lacks depth in several key areas, noting that the team needs "help" across the back line, the flanks and the forward line. The first new signing to arrive will be Couhaib Driouech, a winger who is set to join from PSV for a fee reported to be around £6.5 million. McInnes explained that bolstering the defense and adding quality on the wings were top priorities, but the loss of a player of Chermiti’s calibre also forces the club to re‑evaluate its attacking options.
"Strengthening defensively, strengthening in wide areas was a priority. But obviously losing a player of Youssef's ability, we need to look at that one as well," McInnes said ahead of Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Jagiellonia Bialystok. He went on to stress the particular scarcity of left‑footed defenders within the squad, a deficiency that the club is eager to remedy as quickly as possible.
"We don't have an array of options defensively. We don't have a left‑footed defender in the building and we're keen to try and get that resolved as quickly as possible," he added. "I do think that with the numbers we've got there, we are playing with fire and we are a couple of defenders being injured. The good thing is we've got the ability to react to it and hopefully we can react positively." The timing of Chermiti’s injury was especially unfortunate, as it arrived only hours after reports that Rangers had turned down a substantial offer for the striker from Galatasaray.
McInnes made it clear that the club had no intention of letting the young forward leave during the summer window. "The plan was for Youssef to be a big part of it for us," he said.
"One minute you're flying high and you've got the full season ahead of you and a lot of loftier ambitions for yourself, then obviously he's had to deal with this injury." When asked about the club’s strategy for replacing the missing number nine, McInnes acknowledged the difficulty of finding a suitable replacement. "The number nines are normally the most difficult ones to get," he explained. "We will try to get the right one that would complement what we've got at the top of the pitch. Obviously, we're looking for a bit of pace at the top of the pitch, ideally something similar to what Youssef did." Rangers now face Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok in the second leg of their Europa League qualifying tie, trailing 2‑1 from the first encounter a week earlier.
McInnes reminded his players and supporters that football is rarely a smooth ride. "We understand that it's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows, I got the job for a reason," the former Hearts manager said. "We're going to be playing a European game in front of 50,000 tomorrow." He also reflected on the broader challenges of squad turnover and the need for swift recruitment. "There's a few, a lot of changes indeed, and there's a lot of turning around of the squad.
Of course, it's not been as straightforward as I hoped, and we want to enjoy the job a lot better than it is at the minute. It's part of being a manager.
There's ups and downs, but it's about coping with the difficult times. It defines you, and I think it's up to us now to knuckle down, stay calm, work really swiftly in recruitment." In summary, McInnes is confronting a perfect storm of injuries, a thin defensive roster, and a lack of a proven striker, all while the team struggles to find its footing in the domestic league. The club’s immediate focus is on securing a left‑footed defender, adding depth to the full‑back and winger positions, and identifying a forward who can replicate Chermiti’s pace and goal‑scoring instinct.
The upcoming Europa League clash will be a litmus test for the squad’s resilience and for McInnes’s ability to adapt under pressure. The coming weeks will be crucial as Rangers aim to stem the early-season slide and re‑establish themselves as contenders on both domestic and European fronts.