Rangers boss Michael Beale has suggested that Brazilian summer signing Danilo will be out of action for over two months due to a facial injury.
The 24-year-old striker bravely opened the scoring in the weekend’s 2-0 win over St Johnstone but fractured his cheekbone in the process.
Whilst Michael Beale was clearly apprehensive to put a timescale on the return of Danilo from injury, the Rangers boss admitted he’d be out of training for at least four weeks.
The striker is due for a consultancy meeting in a fortnight with a return to “non-contact training” predicted in the second week of the international window (mid-October).
That means Danilo is set to miss around four weeks before he’s back on the training ground.
“I seen (Danilo) yesterday and it still looks sore if I’m honest,” Michael Beale said.
“He had successful surgery on the areas it impact and I think he will be back in non-contact training at the backend of the international window.
“So ideally he will back the first week after the October internationals but it might be a couple of weeks after that we’ll just have to wait and see.
“He’s got another consultancy appointment in two weeks.”
Michael Beale: Danilo faces four weeks out of training, four weeks of non-contact
Pressed further on the player’s rehabilitation, Michael Beale suggested that Danilo will have to wear a protective mask in the early stages of his comeback.
But prior to that Rangers will have to ensure contact football is actually safe for the player with Danilo likely to train three of four weeks unopposed.
That means that even if Danilo returns to training in mid-October, it could be mid-November before the striker is even back in full-contact Rangers training.
Michael Beale’s comments would suggest that we’re looking at mid to late November before Danilo is back playing for Rangers with the injury undoubtedly a major blow.
“I think once he’s back he will have to wear a mask but before that it has to be safe for him to even get to that stage,” Michael Beale said.
“So there will be a period of time maybe three or four weeks where he trains unopposed but I think these things are that he’ll see his consultant in two weeks time.
“We managed to have the surgery on the Monday so the speed in terms of the turnaround was really good and that will obviously save us some time at the backend of his rehab.
“I have to say he’s been in great spirits. The technique on the header was almost a perfect technique if you look how he’s got there.
“It was a horrible, sickening moment and I’m thankful that the St Johnstone only come out of it with concussion as well.”
Asked about how Rangers will deal with the injury to Danilo, Michael Beale has urged the Brazilian’s striking teammates to stand up and be counted.
Rangers will now be looking to Kemar Roofe, Cyriel Dessers, Abdallah Sima and Sam Lammers to take on the goalscoring responsibility at Ibrox.
“The good side of it is that we obviously have Kemar (Roofe) fit at the moment for the first time in a long time,” said Beale.
“We have Cyriel (Dessers), we have (Abdallah) Sima who came on there, and we have Sam Lammers so in that sense we do have numbers and in this moment I will be looking for those guys to show their quality in the team for sure.”
The injury blow to Danilo isn’t the only problem Rangers and Michael Beale are facing at the moment either.
