RANGERS boss Walter Smith today stressed he doesn't want to offload any of his top team stars - as Newcastle United were linked with a £4.5 million move for Madjid Bougherra.

But Smith also admitted the Ibrox club could be forced to sell during the transfer window if they receive a big-money offer.

United boss Joe Kinnear is believed to be keen to take Bougherra to St James's Park to help his side's Barclays Premier League survival bid.

Rangers chief executive Martin Bain has reportedly been informed of Kinnear's interest by the Algerian centre-half's agent Charles Collymore.

Kinnear is also rumoured to be keen on Rangers captain Barry Ferguson, but any move for the midfielder is likely to be flatly rejected.

Smith is keen to hold on to Bougherra, the player he snapped up from Coca-Cola Championship club Charlton Athletic for £2.5m in the summer.

However, he knows if an interested party comes in with a huge bid, like the £9million they received from Spurs for Alan Hutton last January, he may have to sell.

Smith said: "We have had one enquiry from Wolves for Alan Gow. Negotiations are ongoing. That is the only enquiry we have had for any of the players that I have.

"We have 28 players on the staff and we have to adjust that number a little bit. We will see what happens over the next few days. But there are obviously players in our squad we don't want to lose.

"But we were in the same situation last year and Alan Hutton was sold to Tottenham. We didn't want to lose him, but the bid was such that we had to take it. You can never say that won't happen again."

He added: "But, effectively speaking, we have to adjust the number of players we have who aren't really taking part in things on a regular basis for us. That is the group we are looking at at the present moment.

"We would want to try and keep the group of players who have been involved in playing on a regular basis together and add to that if we can.

"But, first and foremost, we have to adjust the numbers of the group who haven't been playing." As speculation mounted regarding Bougherra, who is also attracting interest from French club Marseille, Rangers boss Smith was himself linked with a move for Hearts captain and centre-half Christophe Berra.

Meanwhile, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has also been linked with a move for Pedro Mendes, who he coached at Portsmouth. But if the Glasgow giants were to sell the player there would surely be mutiny among the Rangers supporters.