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Rangers are on the brink of signing Brandon Barker after failing in a last ditch bid to land Ryan Kent.

Steven Gerrard revealed a deal for the Man City winger is all but done as he saluted his “close to perfect” side for their Europa League mauling of FC Midtjylland.

The Ibrox side put one foot in the play-off round with a 4-2 win at the MCH Arena and now Gerrard is calling on his fans to raise the roof in the return leg next week.

Rangers should complete the signing of winger Barker on Friday and the 22-year-old could even be in line for a debut against Hibs on Sunday, the team he joined on loan from the Etihad two years ago.

(Image: Getty Images)

Rangers only turned to Barker, available on a free, after Gerrard made one last call to Anfield earlier this week to discuss another loan move for Kent.

Gerrard said: “‘We haven’t signed Brandon yet. He is having a medical. It’s close. Would that be it in terms of the squad? Who knows.

“I don’t think it is a secret we tried to get Ryan Kent to return.

Liverpool knew how much wanted the player to come back.

“But I was told a week ago by Jurgen Klopp that he wouldn’t be going out on loan, so I respect that decision.

“We checked again a couple of days ago. I spoke to the technical director Michael Edwards. He made it very clear, again, that it wouldn’t be happening so we had to move in a different direction.

“We thank Ryan for everything he has done. Time will tell whether our paths cross again but he is a magnificent player.

“We did everything we could to get him back but it is not to be and we respect Liverpool and thank them for letting us have him for a year.”

Gerrard was in buoyant mood after goals from Alfredo Morelos, Joe Aribo, Nikola Katic and Scott Arfield gave them an emphatic grip on the qualifying round tie.

The only down side was two goals conceded in six second half minutes when Rangers were cruising 3-0, but Gerrard lavished praise on his side for their display.

He added: “It was a fantastic performance and we thoroughly deserved our win. Across the board, there were so many standout performances against a very good team.

(Image: Rangers/{A)

“It’s a good position to be in but it’s only half-time. We will have to match the performance to get the job done next week. No way are we going to celebrate this one result.

“We have major respect for the opposition and we will need to perform next week. I need the roof to come off Ibrox to help the boys get over the line.

“We were close to the perfect performance. Our gameplan, the way we set up made us difficult to play against. We were very brave, we matched their physicality and we carried a huge threat on the counter-attack.

“The goals we scored were top, top quality. It’s difficult to praise individuals but it was Jon Flanagan’s first game back and he was really good for us.

“Jordan Jones has arrived as a Rangers player and gave us oxygen on the counter-attack.

“Big Buff up front - there is a lot of speculation about him and people sometimes question his commitment to the club but his commitment was there in abundance.

(Image: Rangers/PA)

“He led the line terrifically well and scored a great header. There was a lot to admire about the performance but it is only a job half done. You achieve nothing in football with a job half done.”

Gerrard admitted he could have done without his side conceding two goals in six second half minutes, but Arfield’s fourth goal 20 minutes from time eased the jitters.

He added: “I will certainly admit we had a wobble for five or six minutes.

At 3-0, we were cruising and were maybe going to see out a perfect performance but we had a bit of a wobble.

“Midtjylland are a good team. They are unbeaten in the league. A couple of years ago, they did Manchester United here so they have earned respect.

“We took our foot off the pedal for for five or six minutes and paid the price by conceding two goals but it showed how far we have come as a team that we never panicked.

“We continued to do the right things, stuck to the gameplan and went on to score a magnificent goal that could be important in a week’s time.”