Keith Wyness says Rangers can “turn season around” and makes a Europa League claim.

Aberdeen’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted Rangers have a “very remote” chance of progressing in the Europa League.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Aberdeen between 2000 and 2004, had lengthy spells as the chief of Everton and Aston Villa and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed qualifying from the league phase could “turn the whole season around”.

Rangers start their league phase campaign later this month (26 September) against Malmo away in Sweden.

The Gers also face Lyon, FCSB, Olympiacos, Nice, Tottenham, Man United and Union Saint-Gilloise.

Philippe Clement is under pressure at Ibrox with his side already five points adrift of Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

Rangers only have ‘remote chance’ of Europa League progression, says Wyness

Rangers reached the last 16 of the Europa League last term and were beaten finalists against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2021-22 campaign.

Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “I think it will be tough.

“If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on Rangers to qualify from that league phase.

“It’s a tough set of games and the morale at Ibrox is very low right now.

“There will be some juicy games coming up and I can’t wait to see some of them.

“But for Rangers, if they did it – it could turn the whole season around. But I think it’s a very remote chance for them right now.”

Focus is on Bajrami as the new recruit for the Rangers exhibits international calibre.

Rangers fans will be hoping that a new team emerges on the other side of the international break after serving up a horror show at Parkhead.

Philippe Clement was already under pressure after failing to qualify for the Champions League and ending the transfer window with a squad that still has issues.

What fans will be glad to see though is the sight of Nedim Bajrami in a Rangers shirt with the playmaker keeping himself sharp on international duty with Albania.

Nedim Bajrami makes Albania impression after Rangers transfer

Unfortunately, the 25-year old was deployed on the left wing rather than his preferred number 10 role, but this is what we learned as Albania overcame early pressure to see of Ukraine.

Bajrami is very good technically.

In the first half, Albania spent most of their time sitting in their own half and trying to absorb pressure.

This meant that Bajrami was backing up his left back and covering runners.

Unlike Rabbi Matondo against Celtic, their were no lapses of concentration and he stuck to his task diligently.

With possession at a minimum, Albania needed their main men to keep a hold of it when they did have the ball.

Bajrami was excellent at this.

What he also demonstrated was his ability kill rogue passes stone dead.

Several times he had to deal with rushed passes at chest and waist height but not once did he lose the ball and turn possession over.

In the final third, on the rare occasion he did get the ball, Bajrami showed the type of composure that js long been missing from Rangers attack.

There were no rushed or over hit passes and he moved the ball intelligently including a perfectly hit through ball that was fired into the side netting.

Despite being picked on the wing, Bajrami was clearly looking to get involved in the middle of the park.

Similar to how Rangers played under Steven Gerrard, Bajrami operated in an almost left-sided number 10 role, drifting inside and between the lines looking to cause Ukraine problems.

It wasn’t a great game to get an idea of what Bajrami is capable of seeing as he was playing out of position, but it gave an idea of what the Albania is capable of on a technical level.

Bajrami set to add to Rangers forward line quality

The more good players that Rangers have in the forward line, the better.

With Oscar Cortés on one side and Vaclav Cerny on the other, having Bajrami in the middle pulling the strings could make a real difference to the quality of chances being created.

When Rangers signed Bajrami, his international different league experience was obviously an attractive proposition for recruitment director Nils Koppen:

“We are delighted to welcome Nedim to Rangers and Scottish football.

“He has a lot of experience having played in the Swiss league and Serie A in recent years as well as representing his country at the Euros.

“He will further enhance the options we have available to the manager and we feel he can be a success at the football club.”

Bajrami is exactly the right type of experience that Clement needs in his squad.

With 27-caps, he has represented his country for a few years as well as competing against elite opposition in Italy.

He still has time to develop and mature into his peak which means that, if he is as good as Rangers hope, he could make the club a profit on their £3.4m investment.

Mikey Johnston did his West Brom homework prior to completing Celtic transfer

Mikey Johnston joined West Brom from Celtic on a permanent transfer on deadline day, after his successful loan.

Mikey Johnston had been watching West Bromwich Albion in action at the beginning of this new Championship season, prior to rejoining the club on a permanent basis on transfer deadline day – and the Irish international cannot now wait to get his boots on. Having secured a long awaited return in the nick of time after leaving Celtic in a deal worth £3m, Johnston is now patiently having to wait for the domestic action to return after this international break.

Albion will head to Portsmouth next weekend and Johnston will be able to reunite with many of his old teammates, who he left a positive impression on – but he knows he’ll have to earn his way back into the side, which has begun in excellent form while they waited for his return. Albion have taken ten points from a possible 12 this term and have hit the ground running under Carlos Corberan.

Johnston, who might’ve joined Burnley or Sheffield United but who knew there was only one club for him once Albion emerged with the cash required to buy him out of his Celtic contract, has kept an eye from afar on the Baggies and has liked what he has seen – but he knows he’ll have a task on his hands to cement a spot again, especially with Karlan Grant’s form in mind.

“I watched the QPR and Leeds games, I watch a lot of football and wanted to see how we were getting on to start the season,” he said. “I’ve kept in contact with everyone and kept watching. I felt this was the right option, I felt we’ve got a lot of strength and a big chance to get to the Premier League, hopefully we can do that.

“I think we’ve got a strong core, leaders in the dressing room, match-winners and I think we’ve got a good chance. Because of the time between me coming in and my first game, I’m just so anxious to get going. It’s been a great start but I’m only just in the door, nothing’s given to you so I’ve got to go and get in the team.

“The aim was to try to get us to the Premier League, we fell a bit short but I feel like we’ve got a right good chance of going at it this year.”

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