Moore on Rangers' radar but Walter won't rush Cousin replacement

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The Ibrox side had called the Premiership club's bluff by rejecting an initial £2m bid for the Gabon international, but Craven Cottage manager Roy Hodgson's improved offer was accepted and the player spent last night in London finalising his move to the Premiership.

Aston Villa's Luke Moore is on Smith's radar as a replacement but a £3.5m price tag has been slapped on the striker by manager Martin O'Neill.

It is a steep price for a player who has netted just one league goal this season and Smith believes that with Kris Boyd, Jean-Claude Darcheville, Nacho Novo and Steven Naismith still at Ibrox, he has enough quality strikers to avoid being forced into a high-stakes pressure purchase.

Smith said: "We might just manage to cope with what we've got. We have a squad of 27 here. Quite a number of them are forwards and they are doing all right for us.

"The only way I would bring someone in on the longer term is if I feel they can improve the squad. It's not easy to do that in the January transfer window."

Despite Cousin's impressive scoring record at Ibrox, the £1m capture from Lens will not be overly missed by the Rangers fans.

Nine goals in 19 starts were overshadowed by a perceived question mark over his commitment during a brief five-month stay in Glasgow.

A series of statements were attributed to the player expressing his wish to leave and the 30-year-old also spoke of a drink culture at Rangers, although it was later claimed his words had been lost in translation.

Former Celtic boss O'Neill says he will not stand in the way of Moore leaving Villa, but Smith's words last night make it unlikely that Rangers will be held to ransom for the striker.

O'Neill said: "Rangers haven't come in for Luke in terms of a bid, but Walter Smith asked me about him and that's as far as it has gone.

"Is there a £3.5m price tag? Well, yes, obviously, because Luke is a Premier League player and that's what he would cost in this day and age. I spoke to Walter maybe about a week ago and he hasn't been in touch with me since."

Smith also revealed that plans to sign Sunderland goalkeeper Darren Ward, allowing wantaway Roy Carroll to join Derby County, have hit a snag.

But the Rangers boss remains hopeful that a deal can be done after failing to land previous target Steve Banks. Meanwhile, midfielder Kevin Thomson could be missing for up to six weeks after his double-hernia operation.