Maurice Edu was given the go-ahead to complete his switch to Ibrox after being granted a work permit today, just 24 hours after Steven Davis finally sealed a permanent move from Fulham.

Rangers also boosted their ranks with the arrival of Pedro Mendes from Portsmouth last week, meaning manager Walter Smith's summer recruitment drive as yielded eight new players.

Assistant boss McCoist believes the squad is looking far healthier than the one which suffered an embarrassing European exit at the start of the campaign - but revealed Smith could yet make one final bid to beat the transfer deadline.

"I would rule nothing out," he said.

"You always look to strengthen and there are another two weeks or so of the window left.

"If the opportunity came up and the finances were there, I think we probably would strengthen.

"If not, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

"You always want a wee bit more but I wouldn't say I'm not happy, you've got to be happy.

"But, like any coach or manager, you are always on the lookout to strengthen certain areas of your team."

He added: "We did look a little bit weak in midfield with the loss of Barry Ferguson, which was a big blow for us at the beginning of the season.

"We had to strengthen, we did strengthen, and we are looking a lot better.

"We obviously have competition for places up front and, defensively, we've brought in Madjid Bougherra, who has looked good and hopefully will continue his progress.

"We have cover at full-back positions and boys like Steven Whittaker and Kirk Broadfoot, who can play across the back.

"So I have to say we are looking a lot more solid with strength in depth."

Davis finally checked in at Ibrox following weeks of wrangling between Fulham and Rangers over a fee and McCoist is relieved the longest running saga of the summer is finally over.

He said: "To be honest, I don't really know the politics and the ins and outs of the move - I'm just delighted that the player is now here.

"He proved last season that he can play here, that he's a good player.

"We obviously wanted him and the great thing is that he wanted to come here, which is a very important factor when you are signing players.

"That may sound like a strange thing to say but it's important that they do want to play for the club. Steven Davis is one of that breed.

"It would have been great if he'd been here for the start of the season but that wasn't the case.

"We have him now, we are delighted to have him, and we just press forward."

The arrival of so many new recruits means some players are likely to head in the opposite direction.

McCoist declined to name individuals but admitted to the likelihood of some players moving on before the end of the month.

"That's a possibility," he said.

"But, to my knowledge, there has been no concrete offers for any of the players.

"Until that happens, I would reserve comment on it."

Rangers face a painful return to Pittodrie tomorrow when they face Aberdeen just weeks after seeing their dreams of clinching the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title on the final day of the season killed off at the same venue.

"We will be up for tomorrow, don't worry about that," said McCoist.

"We have started very well in the league and have had a couple of good results but Aberdeen is a very difficult place to go to.

"They've won one and lost one but we only have to look back to the last game of last season where they played very well and effectively killed off our title challenge.

"We are aware of just how difficult it will be because they always make it hard for us."

While Rangers sit joint top of the SPL, defending champions Celtic have already lost ground following last week's draw against Dundee United.

Both teams are set to clash in the first Old Firm derby of the season at the end of the month but McCoist refused to read too much into the league standings at such an early stage of the campaign.

He said: "I said towards the end of last season that the Old Firm will drop points throughout the season and it will be the same again this season.

"You can't go to places like Tannadice, Easter Road and Aberdeen and expect to win all the time - that's just not going to be the case because they do make it very difficult for you.

"Teams like Dundee United and Motherwell have vastly improved their squads and they are even more difficult places to go to now."