When Rangers signed Tom Lawrence from Derby County a prospective injury could not have been further from the celebrating Ibrox side’s minds.
After all, the Gers were said to have held off competition from the Premier League and Celtic Park to sign the 29-year-old who has consistently proven himself at English Championship level.
One of the division’s most consistent and injury-free performers during his time at Pride Park, Welsh international winger Tom Lawrence is fast becoming part of a wider joke at Rangers.
A high-earning free contract signing who had shown flashes of genuine quality at the beginning of last season, the club is now into a second campaign without the attacking midfielder’s influence.
Rangers suffering with Tom Lawrence injury absence
Rangers signed Tom Lawrence to take the club to the next level but instead seeing his expensively occupied slot in the squad blacked out with injury continues to cost the club big.
It cost the club at a pivotal moment in the title race last season and again in this campaign as yet another substantial Rangers investment a la Kemar Roofe has failed to pay off.
On their day, both players have the potential to be in the top five in the entire country but Rangers have quite simply been let down by not seeing it consistently.
Despite a brief return earlier in this campaign, Tom Lawrence is once again out of the squad and as Philippe Clement gave a Europa League update the Welshman wasn’t even in the discussion.
We’ve still not had an update on that pre-international break scan following an injury sustained against Real Betis.
As things stand Rangers appear without a fixed date for the attacker’s return and it could be the turn of the year before we begin to see anything like Tom Lawrence’s best after over a year out with injury.
That’s if he makes it back onto the training pitch, let alone the grass at Ibrox, before then.
For Rangers it all feels like it could wind up being too little too late and whilst it’s not Tom Lawrence’s fault, the situation has contributed to a lack of attacking intent over the last two seasons.
Call it bad luck, call it bad conditioning, heck, even call it a bad transfer, one thing is for sure; Rangers have got to start getting the expensive moves right with every penny a prisoner.
Philippe Clement has also been clear that improving the physical conditioning of this injury-ravaged squad is a key priority.
