Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has bitten back at the suggestion Croatian defender Niko Katic is set to exit the Ibrox club permanently this summer.
Niko, 24, is recovering from a spirit-crushing cruciate ligament injury which saw the centre-back miss the entirety of the last campaign for Rangers.
As he works to get back to fitness minutes are essential and a leading tabloid newspaper this week claimed the Gers had told Katic he’d be sold to get his career back on track.
This resulted in a vehement response by club insiders and those in the know, as well as from Katic himself, as the player’s future and commitment to the club was reiterated publicly.
Now, Gerrard has been discussing the situation surrounding the defender as he puts the bed any notion the club are looking to offload Katic permanently.
“We’ve had conversations with Niko in the last few days,” said Gerrard [Rangers].
“He played a B Team game and he came through that which is positive news.
“We’re having discussions with Niko now to try and find him the best solution for him in the coming months.
“He needs to play football and I can’t guarantee him them games at the moment so we’re trying to find the right solution for the boy in the short term.
“But in terms of people putting two and two together and writing his future off at Ibrox and saying that he’s not in the plans or he’s going to be sold, I think that’s wide of the mark.
“We’re happy with Niko, he’s had a real serious injury over the last 12 months so now it’s about how can we get him a certain amount of games to get him right up to speed.
“Because there’s no getting away from it, it takes time to come back from that level of injury.”
The question will now surround where Katic moves next with a loan move clearly the preferred solution for now.
According to normally reputable Spanish-speaking Scottish football site Rincon Escoces, Hearts have made a loan bid for the player and the decision is in Niko’s hands.
“In addition, Hearts has transferred to Rangers the intention of taking over Nikola Katic as a loan officer,” reads a tweet from the site.
“Rangers has communicated this to the Croatian centre-back, who will have in his hands the decision on whether or not to accept the offer from Tynecastle.”
Rangers star Niko Katic was defiant amid those exit reports and nailed his colours to the mast as he took to social media to batter back those unfair suggestions.
