Gers Close In On Duo

[Rangers Football Club 0]

ALLY McCOIST is confident of completing a deal to bring Arnold Peralta to Rangers in the next three or four days â?? and Stevie Smith may well be next to arrive at Ibrox.

 

Honduras international Peralta â?? capped 13 times by his country - played in last summerâ??s Olympics tournament, including in a game against Morocco at Hampden Park.

Aged 24, the gritty midfielder is set to become McCoistâ??s fifth new squad addition of the summer after agreeing terms to come back to Glasgow on a permanent basis.

Also in the frame is full-back Smith, who left Gers for Norwich City in 2010 after a torrid time with a long-term pelvic injury.

Most recently with MLS side Portland Timbers, the 27-year-old had a good campaign there last year and played what he felt was his most consistent football in several seasons.

Smith has been back in Scotland since the end of last year after deciding not to pursue any of the options he had to remain in America.

Indeed, he spent much of the second half of last season training at Murray Park with McCoistâ??s squad to keep himself fit and clearly impressed.

It has been reported in external media that the player has already signed terms and that isnâ??t the case just yet but an agreement certainly doesnâ??t seem to be far away.

The manager is delighted to be close to pushing the Peralta deal over the line now and is optimistic both that and the Smith contract can be finalised in the coming days.

McCoist, speaking exclusively to RangersTV at the NARSA convention in San Francisco, said: â??Thereâ??s definitely an interest in Stevie.

â??Itâ??s good to have players who have experience and who know the club so that we, as staff, can rely on them to go and play.

â??He certainly ticks the boxes and heâ??s a very fit lad. I felt sorry for him when Walter Smith was the manager because he had one or two injury problems but they are all gone now.

â??Theyâ??ve totally cleared up and he has been training well so heâ??s a player weâ??d like to come in. Heâ??s got strength and good experience so Iâ??d like to sign him.

â??Stevie was turning up for training there and we tended to forget he wasnâ??t a signed, registered player but hopefully that will change.

â??We are close now with Arnold too. We went over and watched him playing for Honduras against Panama and he performed well.

â??There were one or two players in that game who impressed us and terms have been agreed with Arnold so hopefully in the next three or four days we can push that one through.

â??He will certainly give us a bit of bite in the middle of the park. He actually played at right-back when we saw him but his best role is sitting in midfield.

â??Arnold is very aggressive and he gets about the park well so I think he would blend in with the rest of the midfield and he would be a good signing.

â??Of all the players we lost a year or so ago, the best part of 20 of them were internationals and weâ??ve got a few in our squad again now.

â??Itâ??s our aim as a club to provide as many players for international duty as we can and in our progress back to where we want to be, thatâ??ll be an indication of how far weâ??re coming.

â??Itâ??s great we are hopefully signing a Honduran international who is of a good pedigree and playing in World Cup qualifiers.â?

 

 

 

 

 

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[Frankie 8,150]

I like the sound of Peralta as we lack a bit of dig in the team.

 

Not as sure about Smith, but I guess that will depend on the deal we offer him. We do seem to lack cover at left back for Wallace.

[Super Cooper 0]

Is that game McCoist is talking about Peralta the one from the youtube clip?

[the gunslinger 3,366]

talks with kenny miller this week as well according to the sun.