Former captain David Weir questions Rangers' pursuit of Portsmouth target George Edmundson and Charlton's Joe Aribo

The former Gers captain believes the Scottish giants need to be attracting proven players in their bid to close the gap on champions for the past eight seasons Celtic, rather than so-called project ones.

And in an interview with the Daily Record, the 69-capped ex-Scotland international reinforces his opinion by claiming the step up from League Two, where Edmundson currently plys his trade with Oldham, to the Scottish Premiership is a ‘massive’ one that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Pompey had a significant bid in excess of £600,000 accepted for the Latics centre-half last week.

But that hasn’t put off Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, who has seen two approaches for the 21-year knocked back.

It was reported over the weekend that the Ibrox side would launch a last-gasp bid in an effort to finally entice Edmundson across the border.

Yet Rangers’ interest in Edmundson and Charlton’s midfielder Joe Aribo, who has also been linked with a move, is a route Weir is not fond off.

He believes if the Gers are to deny triple-winning Celtic a ninth consecutive league title, then established, ‘significantly better’ players –  plus a bigger budget – are the answer

Speaking to the Daily Record, Weir said: ‘You can see from the profile of the players the ones they are going for. They are younger, more up and coming and there is value in them.

'But the ones that are going to change their team are the ones they really need. They need ones to make them significantly better because they have got a good solid base.

'It’s a massive step up from Oldham to Rangers, there is no doubt about that.

'People underestimate Scottish football and look at some of the games and say maybe the quality isn’t there.

'But the intensity, the physicality of the game up here is really difficult and a lot of players have come here and really struggled.

'I have watched a lot of English football at League One, Championship, Premier League and League Two and Scottish football rates, I don’t care what anyone says, in terms of being a difficult league.

'Steven Gerrard was right to say he doesn’t have a magic wand, but you also need a magic wand. That’s the reality, you need to be lucky and if you’re not getting backed then it’s really difficult.

'You need to spend more, be creative, get loans or sell someone to fund bringing players in. It’s about what Rangers’ business model is because fans are demanding title number 55.’

Weir, who acted as Mark Warbuton’s assistant manager at Ibrox from June 2015 to February 2017, added: 'It’s getting closer and Rangers have to do something about it.

‘Fans don’t care about the budgets. I obviously refer to my time and we were bringing in players on free transfers and some who were struggling to get in their teams.

'You’re bringing them up and you’re expected to compete as Rangers in the top flight, but people don’t care about the back story - they just care about the result on the Saturday, what they’re reading on Sunday and where they are in the league table.

'That’s the reality - it’s about winning. We all know that, it’s just that sometimes it’s not easy to do it. It’s frustrating but nobody cares.

'You’ve got to bridge that gap somehow and it’s happened in the past. Teams with lesser budgets and lesser quality have done it but you need a bit of luck and backing.’