Former Rangers midfielder Trevor Steven is of the opinion that the Gers’ main problem in competing with Celtic is their lack of spending power.

The Ibrox outfit, who returned to the Scottish Premiership after a gap of four years as they had to start life in the fourth tier, following their liquidation in 2012, brought in as many as 11 players in the summer, with many being free transfers.




Barring Niko Kranjcar, who is currently injured, and Joey Barton, who has already been released, Rangers failed to attract any big names.

On the other hand, Celtic, who appointed former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers as their new manager at the start of the season, brought in established players such as Kolo Toure and Scott Sinclair, while also managing to rope in highly-rated youngster Moussa Dembele.
 


And Steven feels it will take at least three or four years for Rangers to be able to compete with Celtic in the transfer market.

relatedNewsStory

“The problem Rangers have though is attracting the right people”, he was quoted as saying by Gulf News.

“Rangers’ buying power is a third of Celtic’s and that gap has to narrow, but while that gap is narrowing Celtic are picking up trophies.

“It will take Rangers at least three or four years to get into Celtic’s area of the market and in the meantime Rangers have to mix and match and there’s no guarantees with that.”

Rangers currently find themselves third in the league with 20 points from 12 games, 11 behind leaders Celtic, who have a game in hand.