Murphy could be set for return

sTeveN GeRRARD last night admitted he may have to rush long-term absentee Jamie Murphy back into action sooner rather than later due to Rangers’ injury problems. The winger has been sidelined since sustaining a knee injury against Kilmarnock last August. however, a hamstring problem for new signing Ryan Kent and Jordan Jones’ knee issue have left Rangers short of options out wide ahead of a busy fixture schedule which begins with tomorrow night’s home europa league clash against Feyenoord. Gerrard has highlighted the importance of managing Brandon Barker carefully after he scored his first goal for the club against livingston at the weekend, having replaced Kent just before half-time. And the Ibrox manager is considering bringing Murphy back into the fold in the near future. ‘What we have tried to do here is build a squad — not just a team,’ he told the club’s official website. ‘so it is that realisation, that if you are not in the XI you have to be ready to come on from the side, and if you are outside the squad be pushing in training to get into the 18. ‘That is what we want and we think will bring out the best in everyone. ‘We suffered an injury to Jordan Jones and the same with Ryan Kent, so Brandon came on and made a contribution, which should do his confidence the world of good. ‘We just have to be careful with Brandon now that we don’t almost think he can play every game — we have to manage him in the right way. ‘It also might make us push Jamie Murphy forward a bit quicker to give us another option as we will be without Jordan Jones for probably another three to four weeks and it looks like Ryan is going to be a couple of weeks as well. ‘I think Jamie is ready to be part of the 18, but I’m not sure he will be ready to go in and start games in succession. ‘he is certainly training very well, and I think in the last week to ten days, you can see some of his strength coming back, so he is certainly ready to contribute, but I will have to manage his minutes to suit him and be patient with him as well.’