Rangers defender John Souttar has admitted not being entirely honest about his injuries with the Ibrox medical staff.
The Gers defensive additions last summer and moved to bring in two centre backs.
Ben Davies came in from Liverpool as a left-sided centre back following Calvin Bassey’s move to Ajax.
Rangers also took a chance on John Souttar, signing the Hearts defender to a pre-contract agreement in January 2022.
Souttar only moved to Glasgow at the end of the season and, in truth, his Rangers career has yet to really get going.
Rangers knew the risk they were taking; Souttar has been injury-prone for years now and the chances of him being ruled out were strong.
Sadly for Souttar, the injury problems have been constant this season and Rangers fans have barely seen him in action.
John Souttar opens up on Rangers injury hell
Souttar started for Rangers against Livingston on the opening weekend of the season but only lasted 67 minutes.
An ankle injury from his time at Hearts hadn’t fully healed and Souttar hasn’t started another game since.
Souttar has recently ramped up his return to action and has appeared in three first-team games of late.
Souttar has told the Daily Record that he knew he wasn’t fit before that Livingston game and should have been ‘a bit more honest’ about his situation.
The defender admitted that he wasn’t completely honest with the Rangers medical staff and just wanted to play through the pain.
That decision has cost Souttar pretty much all of his debut season at Rangers, but he now feels ‘brilliant’.
Souttar is looking to finally get his Rangers career going soon and hopes to impress Gers fans soon enough.
“Looking back, I should probably have been a bit more honest. But when you sign for a club like Rangers, you just feel like you have to play,” said Souttar. “I probably wasn’t 100 per cent honest with the medical staff. It’s just in my character to play through those sort of things. Looking back, I should have said I couldn’t play – but that’s me. That’s what I am. The last six months have been difficult. Signing for Rangers, you have all these expectations in your head of how it’s going to go.”
“It didn’t pan out the way I wanted at the start for one reason or another. People will probably say I’m injury prone but you’ve got to be mentally strong within yourself. You’ve got to have that self belief and focus. You can’t listen to anyone apart from yourself. You have to get yourself back to the standard you know you can reach. It’s not about proving people wrong, it’s about proving it to yourself. Thankfully, now I feel brilliant. I’ve been training for four or five weeks and feel class. I’m now looking forward to properly starting my Rangers career,” he added.
