Amoruso eyes Rangers recruits

FORMER Rangers skipper Lorenzo Amoruso believes the prospect of Champions League football will help attract players to Ibrox.

Six players have left the cash-strapped Govan club since the end of last season and Walter Smith is scouring the world in his bid to find some replacements.

The Rangers manager is waiting to see if Rapid Vienna will sell him striker Nikica Jelavic while Honduras striker Georgie Welcome is on trial this week.

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However, as yet, the Rangers supporters are still waiting on their first new face of the summer. But Amoruso, who played for the Ibrox club between 1997 and 2003, insists the highest level of European club football remains a tasty carrot.

"It's going to be harder this season because a few players have gone but probably a couple will come. They need to bring in someone new. And the Champions League is always a fantastic scenario for any player. Rangers having that is an unbelievable attraction. It is a fantastic opportunity for any player to come to Scotland and show themselves in the Champions League," he said.

Amoruso, back in Glasgow to publicise Tennent's new three-year sponsorship deal with the Old Firm, admits that regardless of how much of an attraction the Champions League may be to any possible signing, making an impact in the competition is a different thing altogether.

The Ibrox club had a nightmare in the group stages last season taking just two points. "In a couple of games last year, at home especially, Rangers made a few mistakes. It's important that Davie Weir stays and (Madjid] Bougherra as well so the line-up at the back stays exactly the same, which means they are going to be as solid and compact as any other team in Europe.

"If they have been winning it's just because they are strong at the back and hopefully they will make less mistakes in the Champions League."