With thoughts at Rangers now switching to removal of the club's dead wood and the influx of new players, problems are again emerging in the Ibrox outfit's attempts to attract their main targets to the Premierleague.

Emile Mpenza, the striker now plying his trade with Manchester City on a loan basis, has long held the attentions of the Ibrox club, with his bustling nature viewed as a potential success amid the physicalities of life in the SPL.

Mpenza's agent, Rachid Tajmout, had confirmed this week a representative from Rangers had made contact about the Belgian internationalist's availability. But it seems the lure of the Premiership could once again prove to be the Ibrox club's downfall.

Mpenza yesterday admitted he is on the brink of making his move to Manchester City a permanent one, leaving Walter Smith frustrated in his bid to find a credible striking alternative to Kris Boyd.

With Mpenza having joined the struggling Premiership club in January following a money-spinning season in Qatar, it is perhaps not surprising that the size of the wage packet is no longer the main concern.

"I am happy here and, in football when you are happy, anything is possible," he said. "In my mind, I am already with City, only the fine details need to be sorted out.

"It is not all about money, otherwise I would have stayed in Qatar. I will never forget that it was City and Stuart Pearce that gave me my chance in British football. He saw me twice and showed faith in me and I want to repay that."

Further disappointment appears likely in the chase for the signature of Marcin Wasilewski, a Polish defender currently at Anderlecht.

Smith is believed to be keen to bring in the 26-year-old to provide competition for Alan Hutton at right back.

But despite the interest from Ibrox and throughout Europe, Wasilewski appears happy to build on his start in Belgium.

Meanwhile, Allan McGregor, the Rangers goalkeeper, last night advised his understudy Lee Robinson to go out on loan to improve his first-team prospects.

McGregor has made the goalkeeper's jersey his own after spells at St Johnstone and Dunfermline in recent years and believes the 20-year-old - who is tied to Ibrox until 2009 - should do the same.

The only top-team action the Sunderland-born player has tasted came last May as a substitute for Ronald Waterreus in a 2-0 success over Hearts and McGregor said: "I would recommend that Lee goes out on loan. It definitely helped me. I had two spells on loan and there is no doubt it improved me as a keeper."

McGregor is also convinced that Smith's arrival at Ibrox should ensure trophies next season.

"We all feel there are good things around the corner for this club," he added. "We all get on well with the new management team at training and I think we have shown that in the majority of the games.

"We need to take what we have done this season into next season and continue to get stronger.

"It's going to be two years without a trophy and I think we need to show the fans that we are capable of challenging for all of the honours."