WALTER SMITH has expressed his disappointment at not being able to secure the services of Steven Davis before last night's Champions League qualifying deadline but did not rule out bringing the Fulham midfielder to Ibrox before the transfer window shuts at the end of August.

Smith knows all about the qualities Davis has in his locker after his loan spell at Ibrox and moves were made to bring the Northern Ireland star to Glasgow on a permanent basis.

Talks between the clubs broke down yesterday but Smith remains confident Gers have enough cover in this department for next week's crucial first-leg tie against Kaunas.

He said: "We haven't been able to reach an agreement with the club so it looks as though that one is finished for now.

"The difficulty we have is that the deadline for the Champions League qualifying matches comes so early, there is still five weeks to go before the transfer window closes.

"It's not an easy situation to be in and it's not easy for us to go out and sign the players of the level we want.

"So we will take our time and hope that we can sign the standard of player we are looking for.

"But from the end of last season we have been looking for a player to add to our midfield as Steven Davis went back to Fulham and Amdy Faye went back to Charlton.

"So we were always going to be a bit light in the midfield area of the pitch.

"We will continue to look to add to that but we have got a fair number of players in our squad and feel we can cover this aspect."

Despite being content with his current squad Smith realises that his midfield area does require a touch of creative flair but finding players on the transfer market with this quality, and at the right price, is easier said than done.

"We do need a little bit of that and we do have a couple of players out through injury who can provide that when fit.

"But it is not an easy thing to find, guile does not come cheaply."

Several papers also suggested that Portsmouth star Pedro Mendes was on Rangers' radar, with one even suggesting that Jose Mourinho had scuppered the move because he wants to take Sulley Muntari, Mendes' midfield partner at Fratton Park, to Inter in a £14m raid.

When asked if this provided a stumbling block Smith simply relied by saying: "If I had been interested in the player in the first place it might have done!"