Rangers are taking a proactive approach in their quest for a new striker after Youssef Chermiti was ruled out long-term due to a serious injury. Manager Derek McInnes expressed concerns about the club being "playing with fire" defensively, as injuries continue to plague the squad.

Chermiti, aged 22, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Saturday's defeat against Hibernian. This setback came shortly after McInnes revealed that a bid for the Portugal Under-21 international had been rejected. Speculation surrounds a potential interest from Galatasaray for the former Everton player.

A specialist in London will assess Chermiti's condition, with a possible operation scheduled for next week. He will be joined on the sidelines by left-back Tuur Rommens, who faces an absence of up to eight weeks due to a groin issue sustained in the same match.

As Rangers prepare to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit against Jagiellonia Bialystok in their Europa League third-round qualifier on Thursday, McInnes reflected on the impact of Chermiti's injury:

Obviously, really disappointing for ourselves. Selfishly, he's a big part of what we wanted to do this season and he's obviously a talented boy.

Despite the setback, McInnes noted that the timing of the injury during a transfer window allows the club to react. He acknowledged that while the plan was for Chermiti to remain with the team, the situation has changed, prompting a search for reinforcements:

We're trying to be quite proactive with that and seeing what is available. Number nines are normally the most difficult ones to get.