How will Rangers' European squad look for Champions League after Russell Martin makes big decisions?

Rangers’ new regime is in place, new recruits have arrived at Ibrox, and anticipation is growing amongst supporters about how the new-look side will perform this season.

The long-term goals are clear from the new American owners, with a focus on domestic success and growth in Europe, but there are short-term targets too, with everyone at Rangers eager to make a positive start.

A raft of new signings have arrived to help the new coach put a winning team in place, but the first big test comes sooner than Martin might have hoped, with Champions League qualifying starting in less than a week and before any other competitive matches.

There’s not just the test of Panathinaikos, the first of three potential obstacles between Rangers and a place in the League Phase, but also the challenge of putting together a winning team from scratch and with an influx of players needing integrated into the team.

In an ideal world, Martin would have time to ease new faces in and perhaps try to manage a transition that allows for continuity alongside the introduction of new talent. But UEFA rules mean he has to make at least some very clear decisions before his side have even been in competitive action.

Rangers play their first leg against Panathinaikos next Tuesday but the deadline for their first squad list is at 11pm UK time on Thursday.

Another two players can be added up to 24 hours before kick-off in the first leg, but only if there is room in the squad, or if players are removed to allow them to be registered.

With seven new faces coming in, and UEFA putting a 25-man cap on the squad (with additional restrictions), players will have to be left out, with each decision making a clear statement on their future and Martin’s plans for the team and squad.

The first team squad list on Rangers’ website from the start of the summer lists 24 players, after a number of departures when loans ended and contracts expired, which shows what the new head coach has to work with from last season.

Start of summer first team squad list (from Rangers’ website)

Goalkeepers

Jack Butland
Liam Kelly
Mason Munn

Defenders

James Tavernier
Ridvan Yilmaz
Robin Propper
John Souttar
Clinton Nsiala
Dujon Sterling
Jefte
Ben Davies
Leon King

Midfielders

Connor Barron
Mohamed Diomande
Nedim Bajrami
Rabbi Matondo
Keiran Dowell
Nicolas Raskin
Ross McCausland
Bailey Rice

Forwards

Oscar Cortes
Cyriel Dessers
Hamza Igamane
Danilo

Obviously if all of those players were to be included in the UEFA squad, that would only leave one space for a new signing, and that won’t happen. And the other rules on eligibility will also shape what happens.

But here’s also no doubt that some players will be exiting Ibrox in the weeks to come, with Martin already having said they can’t have a huge squad, and having brought his own players in to execute his style of play and improve the squad.

From the list above, Clinton Nsiala has already been told he should find a new club, and Robin Propper is reportedly negotiating his exit to return to the Netherlands. Countless others have been linked with moves away already.

As things stand, without further signings being added or any players leaving, it looks like Martin will have to leave six players out of his squad for the Panathinaikos tie.

The rules and the contenders

Decisions: Russell Martin has big calls to make. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group) SNS Group

UEFA’s rules allow for 25 players to be registered for each stage of the competition.

From that 25, eight must be what the governing body defines as “locally-trained” to help maintain the identity of clubs.

A minimum of four of the locally trained players must be what they call “club-trained” meaning they have spent three full seasons at the club between the ages of 15 and 21. The remainder of the eight places can be filled by “association-trained” players, who have spent three entire seasons at any clubs within the same national association between the same age range.

If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players on its list, the maximum number of players that can be registered in the squad is reduced.

With Rangers’ squad overwhelmingly populated by players brought in from outside Scotland who don’t fill that criteria, it already begins to shape Martin’s squad to some extent.

Four of last season’s first team squad count as being locally trained and would presumably be listed even if a couple of them have been linked with moves away.

Liam Kelly, Leon King, Ross McCausland and Bailey Rice are all Rangers youth products and count as being club trained. In addition, Robbie Fraser is too old to be counted as a List B player (more on that later) and has played a part in pre-season.

That would leave three remaining spaces for locally trained players and, neatly, there are only three other first team squad players with a Scottish background.

John Souttar, who came through the ranks at Dundee United, Aberdeen-trained Connor Barron, and summer signing from Dundee Lyall Cameron all tick the eligibility requirements.

Those eight selections, whose spaces can’t be taken by others in the squad, would leave 17 slots to be filled, and at least 23 players to choose from.

The first obvious choice would be Jack Butland, since UEFA require two goalkeepers to be named on the list.

Let’s also assume that the new signings are all guaranteed a place in the squad. Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell, Emmanuel Fernandez, Thelo Aasgaard, Nasser Djiga and Djeidi Gassama, in addition to Butland would take up seven more spaces in the squad.

That leaves just ten slots in the European squad, and 17 players from last season’s squad.

Captain James Tavernier is assured of inclusion, and though valued assets Nicolas Raskin, Hamza Igamane and Mohamed Diomande have been linked with moves away if Rangers were to get offers that would bring the club huge profit, they will be in the squad to face Panathinaikos unless there are significant developments in the next week.

Nsiala won’t be on the list after being told to move on, and Propper is another expected omission as his exit looms. Jose Cifuentes, who spent last season on loan in Greece, hasn’t featured in the team’s two pre-season game so far and is another one likely to miss out.

Ben Davies’ future is in doubt with Birmingham City reportedly keen to sign the player after a successful loan spell last year. However, a recent injury and suggestions that Martin is minded to give the player a clean slate at Ibrox make his inclusion or exclusion less certain.

If Davies is another absentee from the UEFA squad, that would leave Cyriel Dessers, Danilo, Ridvan Yilmaz, Nedim Bajrami, Jefte, Oscar Cortes, Dujon Sterling, Rabbi Matondo and Kieran Dowell from the existing squad, and six places not accounted for.

Dessers has been a regular goalscorer for Rangers over the last two seasons with 51 goals in 109 games but he has also been talked about as a summer departure with his all-round game dividing fans. Fellow striker Danilo missed last season’s European squad and has had his time at Ibrox blighted by injury but is fit, scored against Barnsley and is said to have netted and provided three assists in a closed door game against Dunfermline.

While Aarons may start at left-back under Martin, Jefte is probably next in the pecking order and far more likely to make the European squad than Yilmaz, who has been repeatedly linked with a return to Turkey.

Dujon Sterling’s adaptability count in his favour but Martin’s preference for wingers, and the fact that new wide players are still to be recruited, might see Cortes under consideration. Matondo’s lack of consistent returns over his time in Glasgow could put him on the excluded list, while Dowell hasn’t established himself as a first team regular but has featured in midfield in pre-season.

Martin’s final decision on his 25 players for List A won’t define his only options for the tie. The club also submits a List B of young players who can be used to supplement the first team squad, as long as they are 21 or under and have been with the club for a set period of time.

The squad can be changed again for the subsequent qualifying rounds, and adjustments can be made for new faces arriving before Monday evening, but Thursday’s list will deliver an early verdict from the new head coach on some of the players he has inherited.

And with the squad finalised, the clock will start ticking down to Martin’s first competive game and the high stakes of a match that could set the tone for the first months of a season that holds plenty of expectation around Ibrox.