Rangers close to landing Joleon Lescott and Joe Garner

Rangers are hoping to complete the signing of Joleon Lescott before the weekend, with Joe Garner also set to join despite delays in finalising the formalities of his move.

Manager Mark Warburton has sold an Ibrox switch to the former England defender, with the prospective deal also helped by Aston Villa agreeing to cover part of his salary for the year left on his contract.

Sky sources understand the 34-year-old is due in Glasgow for a medical on Friday ahead of the move.

After holding talks with Lescott and agreeing a £1.5m fee with Preston for striker Garner, Warburton confirmed he was close to rounding off his transfer business for the summer.

Philippe Senderos has also been training with the squad but the Rangers boss confirmed he was only looking for one more centre-back and one more striker.

Garner looks certain to join, however, after telling Preston he wanted to leave. The 28-year-old scored six goals for the Sky Bet Championship side last season after hitting 27 in their promotion campaign the previous term.

"We're making progress on some targets that have gone on now for a number of weeks and we are hopefully very near a conclusion on one or two of those," Warburton said. "It wouldn't be right to speak about individuals but we are close on one or two and I hope we can get them to completion in the next 24 to 48 hours, maximum.

"A player like that [Garner] adds experience, adds an edge in terms of how he plays the game, in terms of his enjoyment of the game, a variety of goals, comfortable inside and outside the box, movement and a threat.

"He's a constant threat, so that type of player would provide something which would help us and add to our attacking prowess, I hope.

"I can't speak highly enough, by the way, of Philippe Senderos. He came in, hadn't been training with a team for a few weeks, so his level of fitness is outstanding. His CV is well documented, but his level of fitness, the way he has fitted into the group has been first class.

"He has dealt with training effortlessly all week so we have to look at a number of options and I have been very impressed by Philippe."

Warburton met Lescott in Manchester on Tuesday in a bid to persuade him to move to the Scottish Premiership after the 34-year-old former England centre-back was told he was free to leave Aston Villa.

When asked about his chances of signing a player of Lescott's calibre, with Sunderland also reported to be interested in him, Warburton said: "I'm optimistic because we have to keep raising the profile of Rangers.

"Players know about the club, know about the history and stature of the club and hopefully we can keep pushing forward. If we can do that and sign players of the right calibre, then it's almost self-fulfilling.

"We can't compete with Premier League clubs, absolutely not. The financial disparity is evident for all to see. But what we can do is look at what we can offer a player. We can offer a player an opportunity here that is maybe not on offer at that club. And maybe those clubs can sign more players to have bigger squads.

"If a player doesn't buy into that, no problem, we shake hands and move on. You want players who want to be here, recognise an opportunity and see a role for themselves with Rangers.

"We can't compete when it comes down to straight cash, but with players of experience and players of quality it's not always about a straight cash deal. It's very much about the quality of opportunity. If we can get that right, then we have a chance."

Striker Martyn Waghorn took part in Thursday's training session and is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a hamstring injury that forced him off in the opening league game of the season, the 1-1 draw with Hamilton.