Rangers remained locked in talks with Osasuna last night over the transfer of Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar. The Ibrox club have turned their attentions back to the 25-year-old after losing out on Frenchman Julien Faubert, who moved to West Ham United from Bordeaux over the weekend.
It is understood that Cuellar has already agreed personal terms and the outstanding issue remains the transfer fee. The Spaniards hoped to sell him for no less than 3m though they may be prepared to accept a slightly lower bid because they do not want to retain an unhappy player.
Pedro Bravo, the player's agent, remained confident an agreement could be reached.
"I am speaking with both Rangers and Osasuna just now and I think a deal can be done," he said. "I have got a good feeling about it."
The club are also hopeful of tying up Lee McCulloch on a deal this week, though there has been no fresh bid for Kilmarnock's Steven Naismith. The Ibrox club had a third bid rejected over the weekend and any subsequent offer may depend on their success with other signing targets.
Rangers' latest offer involved an initial payment of 334,000, with further instalments over the next two years, taking it to 1m, and a further 500,000 when he made 100 appearances. However, Kilmarnock want 2m for the player and are not prepared to compromise given that Naismith still has three years left on his contract.
Walter Smith has already recruited five new faces this summer, including Kirk Broadfoot, Alan Gow, DaMarcus Beasley, Jean-Claude Darcheville and Graeme Smith.
Charlie Adam hopes that their summer strengthening programme will be enough to end their trophy drought after two barren years.
The 21-year-old midfielder is one of the few players at the club who has actually managed to pick up a trophy during that time, when he helped St Mirren to the first division title and the Challenge Cup during a productive loan spell at Love Street in season 2005-06.
"It would mean the world to pick up a trophy," said Adam, who signed a five-year deal last week. "I won two medals at St Mirren and what an achievement that was for me.
"We have to go out firing on all cylinders and hopefully win as much as we can. There are two other cups and the Champions League as well so we will be taking each game as it comes but the main focus is trying to get the title. We will be doing everything we can to get it back."
Rangers have also confirmed the first leg of their Champions League second-round qualifier against either FK Zeta or FBK Kaunas will take place at Ibrox on Tuesday, July 31.
The date of the second leg, which will take place on August 7 or 8, has yet to be confirmed.
The first-round qualifying tie between Zeta, the Montenegrin champions, and Lithuanian side Kaunas is on July 17 or 18 and July 24/25.
Smith will spend the next couple of weeks compiling a dossier on both of their potential opponents and, having missed out on the tournament last year, Adam said everyone at the club is relishing a return to Europe's premier club competition. He added: "Come the first qualifying game, we'll be ready for it but there are also some exciting friendlies coming up before then."
Ajax come calling at Ibrox on July 24, followed by Chelsea four days later.
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