Filed under: Champions League, Football, Scotland
It seems that the moment a problem is solved another crops up for Ally McCoist but the Rangers manager can only work under the assumption that Madjid Bougherra will leave Ibrox before the end of August, no matter what he says.Bougherra has a year left on his contract, has made it clear all summer that he wants to depart and has now been the subject of an unsuccessful bid, reportedly worth £2.6 million, from Qatari side Lekhwiya.
The Algerian centre-back, 28, had set his heart on a move to the Premier League but no firm interest has ever materialised.
Chief executive Gordon Smith claimed Rangers still hoped that Bougherra could be persuaded to sign a new contract last week.
And even though the former Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday defender has made his opinions clear, McCoist wants to hang on to the player.
That is despite losing Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd on a cut-down fee and a free transfer, respectively, in the last couple of years.
"We don't want Madjid Bougherra going anywhere, especially at this stage of the season, which is vitally important for everyone," McCoist told the club's website.
"Madjid played for us on Saturday and I thought he was fine. He is the same as every other player. You have to handle speculation and remember you have a job to do."
Although Rangers have tied up a reported £750,000 deal for Palermo's Romanian centre-back Dorin Goian, the Bougherra issue will not go away.
McCoist is still hoping to sign either Aston Villa defender Carlos Cuellar or Anderlecht's Roland Juhasz.
"The signing of Goian does not mean we will stop there," added McCoist, who also wants St Johnstone's Murray Davidson and Orebro's Alejandro Bedoya.
"We would still like to bring in another defender. We still have an interest in Carlos and Juhasz.
"Dorin is a very experienced centre back, he is strong and aggressive and obviously very tall. He is definitely the type of player we need because we are a little bit short of cover defensively and he is a welcome addition."
While it could be costly to let Bougherra run his contract down any further, failure to take care of Malmo in the Champions League third qualifying round could be just as expensive.
Goian looked unlikely to feature due to work permit issues despite the 30-year-old agreeing a three-year deal with the Scottish champions.
It will be fascinating to see if McCoist retains the 5-4-1 formation that brought his former boss Walter Smith so much success in Europe.
But McCoist is adamant that the qualifier defeat to Lithuanian side Kaunas three years ago means that Swedish champions Malmo will not be taken lightly in Tuesday's first leg at Ibrox.
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