Rangers have lined up two new pre-season friendlies against English opponents in July, according to popular insider The 4th Official

The lowdown

Rangers finished runners-up behind Celtic in last season's Scottish Premiership and lost the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties.

That means they missed the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League group stages automatically and they'll instead have to come through a pair of two legged-ties.

Manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst is preparing for his first full season at the helm, having taken over from Steven Gerrard last November.

The latest

T4O, the insiders who first broke news of GvB's move to Ibrox back in November, shared the update on Rangers' summer plans on Twitter on Monday afternoon.

"Rangers will play friendlies vs West Ham United and Blackpool next month," they wrote.

And in a snippet from a post on their Patreon page, they added that fans should 'expect the announcement to be made official soon'.

The verdict

Facing West Ham could be particularly valuable for Van Bronckhorst's side. It's a smart move.

The Hammers, who reached the Europa League semifinals themselves and finished seventh in the Premier League to earn a Conference League spot, will represent a tough test physically and technically.

The third qualifying round is pencilled for 2/3 August and 9 August, so these July games should align nicely with their preparations.

And they will double as a fitness-building exercises for the start of the Scottish Premiership season too, with Rangers due to travel to Livingston on Saturday July 30.

In other news, Rangers are battling Celtic for this forward signing