Daniel Cousin's long goodbye from Ibrox seems to be finally over. Rangers last night accepted a £3m offer from Fulham for the Gabonese striker, who only arrived at the club from Lens in the summer.

The deal - should personal terms be agreed with Fulham - represents a profit of around £2m on Cousin who turns 31 next month, but Walter Smith insisted yesterday he is in no hurry to re-invest the money. The Rangers manager seems comfortable about operating without an incoming replacement for the striker. "We might just manage to do that," he said.

"We have a squad of 27 here and quite a number of them are forwards. They are doing all right for us. The only way I'll bring somebody in in the longer term is if I feel they can improve the squad. It is not easy to do that in the January transfer window."

Smith has a numerically strong corps of strikers. Jean-Claude Darcheville, Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, Steven Naismith and Lee McCulloch have all operated up front. However, the Rangers manager has been linked with Nicolas Fauvergue, the 23-year-old Lille player, and Luke Moore, the Aston Villa forward who will be 22 next month. Cousin's protracted departure from Ibrox - he has been making noises of discontent almost since he arrived - has allowed Smith time to consider alternatives.

Rangers have been quoted £3.5m for Moore. This may have been thought too rich for the Ibrox club, but the money gathered for Cousin may make it more palatable.

Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, admitted yesterday that Moore would be allowed to leave Villa Park if Rangers met the asking price. "Rangers haven't come in for Luke in terms of a bid, but Walter Smith asked me about him and that's as far as it's gone," he said.

"Is there a £3.5m price tag? Well, obviously because Luke is a Premier League player and that's what he would cost in this day and age. I spoke to Walter maybe about a week ago and he hasn't been in touch with me since. That may change."

Alan Hutton, meanwhile, seems certain to stay at Ibrox in the short term with Smith expecting no development on the full-back's situation in the next few days. Rangers have accepted a £9m bid for the player from Tottenham but the Scotland internationalist has opted to remain at Ibrox.

Roy Carroll, the former Manchester United goalkeeper, is still at Ibrox but looks set to leave, probably for Sheffield Wednesday. Smith has said his back-up goalkeeper can go as soon as Rangers have enlisted a replacement. Darren Ward, the 32-year-old Sunderland goalkeeper, is in Smith's sights however the Rangers manager admitted that there had been "a little bit of a problem". This, though, should be resolved soon with Ward arriving and Carroll heading south.

Rangers, too, can expect to have defenders Andy Webster and Steven Smith back on first-team duty by the end of the month. Both players were to have featured in a closed-doors match at Dumbarton last night. It was cancelled, but Smith has said both players will play in three or four "bounce matches" in the coming weeks.

The Ranger manager is also optimistic Kevin Thomson may come back from his hernia operation sooner than the forecast four to six weeks.

The midfielder will be needed as Rangers face up to an unrelenting series of fixtures that begins tonight with their rearranged Scottish Cup fourth round tie against East Stirlingshire on a relaid Ibrox pitch.

Alan Gow and Kirk Broadfoot are expected to be given a chance to impress after their last starting appearances against East Fife in the CIS Insurance Cup. John Fleck, the 16-year-old midfielder, looks set to be on the bench, however Smith confirmed the youngster could come on at some stage. "When he trains with the first team, he looks a good player," said Smith. "He is in the squad on merit."