I know this is maybe a bit premature after only one appearance for Rangers, but the performance of Pedro Mendes in his debut yesterday at Ibrox was certainly eye-catching.

His performance reminded me of the young Barry Ferguson we had back in the days of Advocaat, you know, the one who played alongside Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Jorg Albertz and Claudio Reyna as Rangers dominated the midfield.

Nowadays we know that Ferguson isn't as mobile as he used to be due to the three serious injuries he has suffered in the last 5 years, and it's doubtful if he will ever be the player he used to be. That's why I said immediately when I heard he needed an operation that I felt it was time to think about replacing him.

As I said earlier, I may be a bit premature in judging Mendes but I hope not. He certainly came north with good reports, and he made a terrific start yesterday, but the tell-tale sign will come in the next two games. Aberdeen away and Celtic away are probably our hardest two fixtures of the season. If Mendes can shine in those games and dominate the midfield the way he did with Kevin Thomson yesterday, then I think Walter Smith may have a very serious decision to make around the turn of the year when Barry is fit again.

Bearing in mind that Steven Davis looks likely to be confirmed as a Rangers player tommorrow and Maurice Edu is only a work permit away as well, and of course Aaron is intended for the 1st team once he's had his pre-season and a few reserve matches, suddenly we've gone from the despair of watching the backwards and sideways passes of McCulloch, Adam and Dailly to the options from all angles.

Will Davis be used on the right ? I suspect he will, however he's more effective in the middle in my opinion, although he may just be happy to get in the team with Mendes and Thomson in the middle. Not forgetting the option of Maurice Edu and Brahim Hemdani as well, of course. On the left we've now got the choice of Aaron, Beasley, Lafferty, Fleck, Adam and McCulloch (that's my order of preference, by the way), with Beasley able to comfortably perform on the right as well.

Add Barry Ferguson to that mix and suddenly you have a very interesting conundrum for Walter Smith. We're not complaining though, not after the dross that we had to watch pre-season and against Kaunas.