Al-Gharafa president’s comments suggest Pedro Caixinha could inspire Rangers rebuild

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The Portuguese is hardly the most well-known candidate to take over at Rangers but the Ibrox chiefs will have done their homework.

Mark Warburton’s transfer policy may have been a major factor in his dismissal from Ibrox earlier this month, the hangover from the Joey Barton saga still lingering, but at least the former Rangers boss appeared to be putting long-term plans in place – when he wasn’t signing Philippe Senderos, that is.

And, according to the Daily Record, Pedro ‘copy and paste’ Caixinha could decide against ripping up the entirety of Warburton’s blueprint.

According to Sheikh Jassim bin Thamer Al-Thani, president of the 46-year-old’s current club, Qatari side Al-Gharafa, Caixinha is a manager who plans ahead.

“What is particularly pleasing for me is the way our coach, Pedro Caixinha, is depending more and more on our young players,” he said in quotes reported by the Daily Record.

“We are aware we need to be patient with Caixinha and his work and give him time to bring through young players.”

As Celtic have demonstrated in recent seasons, the financial inferiority of the Scottish game means developing young players and selling them on for profit, usually to overpaying English clubs, is an excellent way of maintaining progression despite the annual loss of key players.

And Warburton, though never given the opportunity to complete his plan, had clearly attempted to build for the future by bringing in a glut of talented youngsters with exciting potential a la Jordan Rossiter (below) and Joe Dodoo.

Furthermore, links with Aston Villa’s Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, domestic starlets Matthew Knox and Chris Cadden, allied with his determination to keep hold of 15-year-old wonderkid Billy Gilmour suggests that young players were to become a major part of the Rangers rebuild.

And, if his work in Qatar is anything to go by, Caixinha possesses some rather similar principles. And this could be extremely beneficial to the future of a cash-strapped Rangers side.