Rangers have brought Brandon Barker and Andy King to Ibrox this month.
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has told the Scottish Daily Mail (19/08, p75) that neither Brandon Barker nor Andy King are ready to start just yet.
The Gers were in Scottish League Cup action on Sunday afternoon, as they made the trip to take on third-tier side East Fife.
Rangers coasted past East Fife with a 3-0 win, as Jermain Defoe, Filip Helander and Joe Aribo bagged the goals to hand the Gers the win.
Steven Gerrard’s focus will now be on the Europa League clashes with Polish side Legia Warsaw, and he’ll be able to call upon new boys Barker and King for those ties.
Barker wasn’t signed in time for the tie with FC Midtjylland, whilst King – who joined the club after beating Midtjylland on Thursday – can now be registered too.
The pair were named on the bench against East Fife, with both players playing 30 minutes before being registered for the Legia ties this morning.
Gerrard has now admitted that neither player is ready to start yet due to a lack of match practice in pre-season, and Gerrard even compared King’s situation to the arrival of Steven Davis in January in that he needs games as quickly as possible in order to get to his best.
“They are not ready just yet,” said Gerrard. “They haven’t played much football. Brandon got a full pre-season but not many games. That half-hour will do him good.”
“Andy is the same. He is a fit boy and really professional but it is similar to a Steven Davis situation earlier in that we need games in him as quick as we can,” he added.
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