Souttar proved he’s ready for Rangers on road to recovery, insists McLeish
Former Scotland manager thinks Hearts defender would shine at Ibrox after fighting back from injury Hummels demands more from Dortmund defence
RANGERS have signed some exceptional footballers with big reputations for considerable sums of money who have proved unable to deal with the demands on them at Ibrox over the years.
Basile Boli, Tore Andre Flo and Joey Barton, to name just three, all struggled to live up to expectations and justify the large sums of money they received in wages.
Will John Souttar, the Hearts and Scotland centrehalf who the Glasgow giants have been linked with, be able to cope if he completes a move during the January transfer window?
The defender, who is out of contract at Tynecastle in the summer, has certainly excelled for both club and country this season and has attracted interest from a raft of clubs as a result.
However, joining the
Scottish champions, who are expected to win every trophy domestically and excel in continental competition by their legions of followers, will be a definite step up.
James Tavernier and his team-mates are bidding to retain the cinch Premiership and secure a Champions League spot and take on Borussia Dortmund in the knockout rounds of the Europa League next month.
But Alex McLeish knows all about the requirements at Rangers having spent five years as manager at his boyhood heroes and he is confident that Souttar has both the mentality and the ability needed to do well in Govan if he is signed.
He believes the strength of character the player has displayed coming back from a succession of serious injuries shows that he will not be fazed by the challenges that will await him if he is added to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad this month.
“To get back to the level he has after the injuries he has had says a lot about John,” said McLeish. “If you go back a few years to my era, you probably wouldn’t have recovered from them. You wouldn’t have got your full mobility back when I played.
“That has a lot to do with the improvements that have been made in sports science and medical treatment over the years. He has obviously had good people around him.
“But that has got to be a testament to his strength of character as well. John has certainly turned it all around when his career looked to be in jeopardy. He was out for a helluva long time. If he didn’t have the necessary mental toughness then he wouldn’t have come through what he has been through.”
McLeish handed Souttar his first Scotland cap in a friendly against Belgium at Hampden in 2018 when the centreback was just 21 and then started him in Nations League matches against Albania and Israel later that year.
Hip and ankle problems meant the Aberdeen-born player then spent three years out of the national fold – but he made a triumphant return in the Qatar 2022 qualifier against Euro 2020 semifinalist Denmark in November.
He opened the scoring in the first-half of a game that Steve Clarke’s side won 2-0 to secure a seeding for the World Cup play-offs in March.
McLeish was unsurprised to see Souttar, who had only been drafted in to the Scotland squad by Steve Clarke when Grant Hanley was forced to withdraw, make such an impact and expects him to be a regular fixture going forward.
“I only worked with him for a brief period of time when I was Scotland manager,” he said. “But he had a nice personality, had a quiet assurance to his play on the park and had good leadership qualities as well. That is why he has become the Hearts captain. He had real quality about him.
“He certainly looks a really confident player at the moment. He strikes a beautiful pass, hits a pass as if he means it. But being an outstanding defender is
BORUSSIA DORTMUND star Mats Hummels has warned his team-mates they have to stop leaking goals despite returning to Bundesliga action with a win, ahead of their Europa League showdown with Rangers next month,
Rangers face the German giants in a glamorous play-off round showdown next month and Dortmund cut the gap at the top of the table to six points behind leaders Bayern Munich after a dramatic comeback win against Eintracht Frankfurt after they returned from their winter break.
They were two goals down, before coming back to win 3-2, but former Bayern star Hummels, 33, is concerned at the number of goals they lose, having conceded 28 goals in 18 league games. And he has urged his colleagues to tighten up.
He said: “It is exhausting to keep having to try and fight back to win. Conceding too many goals is a big issue for us.
“We keep losing goals from situations that we shouldn’t.
“We lost three goals in Berlin, three goals in Munich. It’s happened far too often to us. And what happens when you keep conceding that amount of goals is that you don’t always win games.
“Stability in defence should be at the top of our agenda for the next couple of months if we want to win any of the competitions we are in.
“That was a great victory and we showed a brilliant reaction to come back. But we keep struggling on the defensive side of the game.”