Former Rangers striker Mark Hateley has urged the Ibrox club to capture the signature of Steve Davis - or start looking elsewhere to bolster a midfield depleted by the loss of skipper Barry Ferguson.

Fulham player Davis, 23, enjoyed a loan spell at Ibrox last season but the London club are looking for £4million to make the move permanent, a figure which is providing a stumbling block for Light Blues' boss Walter Smith.

Ferguson's four-month absence at the start of the season, while he recovers from an operation on his ankle, has sharpened the focus on the Ibrox side's midfield area.

Hateley, who works in an ambassadorial role at Rangers, believes a decision on Northern Ireland international Davis should be made sooner rather than later.

"The Steve Davis transfer is a key transfer," the former England striker said.

"From what we seen from Davis last season, he could be a very integral part of Rangers' season, especially at the start, when the club is without without its captain.

"But it has to either be finalised or move on to look for somebody else.

"That has to be done pretty quickly, and I'm sure that Walter will be working flat out to do that."

Hateley is confident that from the squad Smith has at his disposal at the moment, Kevin Thomson can fill the gap left by Ferguson.

Speaking at Hampden, where he helped launch an exclusive deal between the Scottish Premier League and BT Vision, he said: "Barry is going to be a huge miss.

"Barry is Rangers Football Club. He is the captain of the club, an influential figure and a talisman.

"But we didn't see the best of him last season because of injuries.

"So I think that it is imperative that he go away, whether it's for three months or four months, to recover properly and get himself physically and mentally fit for a campaign which - if it's anything like last year - is going to be pretty chaotic.

"Initially, it will be a big loss but it's up to the other players to make a name for themselves while the captain is not there.

"Kevin Thomson had a terrific season interrupted by a hernia operation but I think he can take on that mantle.

"He's mentally strong enough and his technique got better by the month.

"A lot of people didn't see the value of Kevin but he came out of the side and, all of a sudden, Rangers became vulnerable in certain areas."

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