OUT OF THE LIGHT BLUE
Gers boss reveals injured Souttar faces long-term lay-off after more surgery
JOHN SOUTTAR’S Rangers lay-off will rumble on towards the New Year after Gio van Bronckhorst revealed the crocked defender arrived from Hearts already carrying the injury that’s derailed the start of his Ibrox career.
The Scotland stopper has managed just one appearance since his summer switch.
Now van Bronckhorst has confirmed the 26-year-old faces another “long-term” stint on the sidelines after being forced to have surgery. Tom
Lawrence will also be absent as Rangers travel along the M8 for today’s Tynecastle trip, despite van Bronckhorst announcing earlier this month he hoped to have the Welshman back to face the Jambos.
Filip Helander and Ianis Hagi are in the same boat as Souttar, with the Swede and Romanian not expected back before the mid-season break for the World Cup.
But there is good news concerning Kemar Roofe, with van Bronckhorst confirming the former Anderlecht ace is closing in on a return after four months out. The Rangers boss said: “I have a lot of sympathy for John.
“He has the problems he had before. Still he brought the problem with him when he changed teams.
“We needed to operate on him again. He feels much better now.
“It is always difficult to play with pain so it’s the first time in many months that he’s pain free now and can do his rehab.
“Hopefully that’s the rehab of all the difficult times he had and we can bring him back to full fitness and get him going.”
“We have no new injuries, so the players that came back from the internationals are all fit to feature. That’s good.
“Apart from the players already back before the break, we don’t have any players available from the injuries we had back then.
“Tom is still not available but Ben Davies is back in the squad. With John, we
will expect him after the World Cup so that’s still very long-term. The same for Filip, I don’t know the timescale for his injury.
“Kemar is training now. We need to keep assessing him in his load as well to see when he’s back.”
Souttar twice ruptured his Achilles at Hearts and suffered a hip and ankle injury that when combined saw him sidelined over two-and-a-half years.
Ryan Jack knows the frustrations after his own 12-month lay-off last term.
He said: “John’s in good spirits. I’ve been there. All you can say is, ‘Keep your head up, get through your rehab and work hard.’” Gers have just one win in their last four but can move back top with victory in Gorgie before Celtic face Motherwell later today.
The postponed trip to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie has been rearranged for Tuesday, December 20, with an 8pm kick-off.