Mark Allen has dismissed claims Rangers' last-minute swoop for Ryan Kent was a direct reaction to last weekend's defeat to Celtic.
The winger completed a £7million return to Ibrox on deadline day, little more than 24 hours after Steven Gerrard 's side lost 2-0 to their bitter rivals.
Rangers ' hopes of bringing former loanee Kent back looked over with Liverpool adamant he would only leave on a permanent transfer.
But the move was dramatically resurrected just hours before the midnight shutdown, prompting speculation the decision was sparked by a limp derby performance.
Allen was having none of it as told Sky Sports : "No. We had a board meeting the prior Saturday before which myself and Steven attended.
"We went through the whole squad then in terms of what our targets were in the summer and where we'd got to with those targets, which was quite successful.
"The only one who we hadn't got was Ryan, but it certainly wasn't a reaction to the game."
Instead, the Rangers director of football cites qualifying for the Europa League as the key factor.
A late Alfredo Morelos header against Legia Warsaw fired Gerrard's team into the group stage and delivered a £2.65m windfall.
The club are understood to have made a £2m down payment to Liverpool with the remaining fee set to be paid in instalments.
"I think European qualification helped significantly, I think the directors looked at that," Allen added.
"We made no secrets of the fact that Ryan was a target, he was a target all summer. We thought the deal had possibly gone but we had a chance to rekindle it and thankfully we did and we got Ryan on board."
