Giovanni van Bronckhorst has acknowledged that Rangers could face another major rebuild next summer - with deals of almost an entire team up.
The Ibrox boss hopes that is not the case but with contracts and loans up it could be the stark reality. The likes of Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Jack and Ryan Kent are all free agents at the end of the season, as are Filip Helander, Scott Arfield, Steven Davis and Allan McGregor, while the loan of James Sands is up - although there is an option to buy.
Bayern Munich also has a recall purchase option on Malik Tillman. Van Bronckhorst said: “We have 10 players out of contract or whose loans are up so that means we will have to change 10 players if they don’t extend or aren’t here any more.
"It’s always hard as you want to develop a team but you also know that at the end of this season I don’t know what’s happening with all the players.
"It could be we have 10 new players coming in next year which would mean you have to develop again as a team. We have to wait and see how the team looks next year.
“I hope I don’t have to find 10 new players next summer but it’s football. Players go out of contract so you’re not deciding their future. They have it in their own hands when they are out of contract.
“So it could be 10 or it could be less depending on how the next months go.”
The Light Blues had a fair overhaul of their squad this summer. They brought in the likes of Tillman, Rabbi Matondo, Antonio Colak, Tom Lawrence, Ridvan Yilmaz and John Souttar.
Some of that work has come in for criticism, especially as the team flopped in the Champions League and came away with the worst record of any team in the group stages. That has led to criticism of the recruitment. Sporting director Ross Wilson and van Bronckhorst have both been left in the firing line.
The Rangers boss is adamant that it was very much a united decision and he had input into every signing.
Van Bronckhorst admitted: “The focus when it isn’t going well is always on the players who aren’t playing. We had a plan to get new players, which is always the case when you lose a lot of players.
“We were finished quite early in the window with all our acquisitions. You work with a list with the scouting team and there are also players that I follow myself.
“Due to various reasons you come to the players that we have brought in now. It’s not about who makes the final call. "We make that call together. That’s the normal process. "It’s always collective as we have one goal which is to be successful for this club. That’s how I’ve always worked.
“As coaches we always think short-term but the club has to think long-term with a vision for many years to come as coaches and players come and go.”
Van Bronckhorst has also defended Wilson and the board and said he has never been over-ruled over a player.
He claimed: “Not overruled. We look at different positions, players coming in and some players didn’t want to come or the transfer fees and salaries were too high.
“That’s a normal process. In an ideal situation you say I want this player or that player but in the end you also know you have to keep to our budget for salaries but also the budget for investing in players.
“That’s the policy and that’s important for the club for the future. You’re trying to get the best players in possible but I never get overruled for a player that I wanted to have and they’ve told me it’s impossible.”
Van Bronckhorst is also well aware Rangers need to get things right domestically. He wouldn’t have changed any of his Champions League disappointments but wants a quickfire return there.
He confirmed: “Same for the players as me as the boss. I’ve played at the best clubs in Europe competing for the biggest prizes and as a coach I want to do the same.
“I want to be in the Champions League. Success always brings expectation and even when you go up a level the expectation is still there.
“That’s why you have the games we had in Europe with big defeats. That’s part of the game. I wouldn’t have changed anything that happened for my team this year and their experiences.”
