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Derek McInnes fires Rangers transfer warning at chiefs after double Chermiti and Rommens injury blow The Ibrox boss is short on options in his backline going into Thursday's crucial Europa League third qualifying round third return leg against Jagiellonia Bialystok Derek McInnes says Rangers are accelerating plans to replace crocked Youssef Chermiti and Tuur Rommens after this week’s double injury shocker. But the stunned Ibrox gaffer has warned the club’s recruitment chiefs it better happen quick after admitting their fitness nightmare has left him “playing with fire”. A troubled start to his Rangers return was dealt another blow this week as Gers bosses confirmed Youssef Chermiti is out for the season after rupturing his ACL. And to make matters worse, Tuur Rommens has now joined Ben Godfrey on the treatment table after being ruled out for up to eight weeks. That leaves McInnes with only four fit stoppers - Manny Fernandez, Olwethu Makhanya, Ross McCrorie and Dujon Sterling - for Thursday night’s Europa League return against Jagiellonia Bialystok, who lead 2-1 from last week’s first leg in Poland. Responding to the double blow, he said: “Obviously I’m really disappointed. He was a big part of what we wanted to do this season. “And for Youssef himself, obviously he's very young. It's difficult for him to accept and understand what's happened to him. “He's on his way to London this afternoon to see a specialist. And then maybe next week he'll get through his operation. From that point on, it's just about working back. “It'll be a tough one for the boy and a tough one for us, particularly. “The only saving grace from our point of view as a club, the fact that it's happened in a transfer window. And we've got the opportunity to react to that. “Because ordinarily you wouldn't get a chance once the window closes. “We're trying to be quite proactive with that and seeing what is available. “Obviously No9s are one of the most difficult ones to get. “And we just look at various options at the minute. And then we try and land on the right one that would complement what we've got at the top of the pitch. “Obviously we're looking for a bit of pace at the top of the pitch. Ideally, similar profile to Youssef, but it's alright saying what you want. But we’ll work hard to get as close to what we want as possible. “Tuur picked up a groin strain. Him and Manny were the only two who played the full 90 minutes, both in Poland and at Ibrox. “We tried to freshen up. At this stage of the season, we're susceptible to these types of things. Particularly when the demand of the games comes on. “And we don't have an array of options defensively. “So obviously Tuur had to go in again and play. It was just in the very last action against Hibs. He felt his groin twinge a bit. And the scan wasn't great, to be honest. “We're going to be without him for a number of weeks, which exacerbates the situation defensively. “We're really short on numbers. We don't have a left-footed defender in the building. “We’re keen to try and get that resolved as quickly as possible because I do think that the numbers we've got there, we are playing with fire. “But the good thing is we've got the ability to react to it. We all know what we need. But acting really swiftly would help matters.” Gers already have a £7m deal for PSV winger Couhaib Driouech lined up and that should be completed ahead of the Jagiellonia showdown. Now recruitment chief Dan Purdy and CEO Jim Gillespie are turning their focus to finding a striker and left-back. AEK Athens' James Penrice and ast year’s Brentford loanee Jayden Meghoma are among those being considered at the back, as is Sheffield United frontman Ryan One. McInnes added: “It’s in the hands of the recruitment team to try to get that over the line. “Nothing has been finalised yet, so we are waiting for that to play out. Hopefully, we can get some good news before the close of play tonight. “I do not know exactly where [Driouech] is right now. We have been linked with a lot of players and, obviously, that line is skewed a bit at the minute. “I do not know where he is currently. As I say, once we know, we will know. There is still a long way to go.” Purdy was among a raft of backroom staff who had fingers pointed at them during Monday’s fiesta shareholder meeting in Glasgow. But McInnes refused to add to the pile on as he said: “There have been a number of conversations. Obviously, a couple of injuries to key players have set us back, but conversations are ongoing every day. “Managers are always wanting the player in now. Once you identify a player, you want to get him in the building as quickly as possible. It is not always as easy as that and sometimes you can miss out on certain targets. “It has changed a wee bit now in terms of the Youssef injury. That is obviously something we are going to have to zone in on. We are working hard and looking at options. “It was not an area we were looking at, but defensively there has always been a bit of concern. I always felt we were short of numbers there. We are patching up with plenty of numbers, but there are lots of areas in defence where we are short.”