Usually, you can tell by a player’s reaction whether or not an injury is serious and, the way that John Lundstram sat down and signalled to the bench against Ross County suggested that he could be about to spend an extended period on the sidelines.
With a league cup final on the horizon, the last thing he would have wanted is for one of his regulars to miss out, especially with Nicolas Raskin only just in the door. He will be the answer long-term, but Lundstram ran the show the last time there was an Old Firm derby at Hampden.
It looked, initially, like he would miss out, however, according to The Sun, there is some good news for once:
“John Lundstram looks set to make a quick-fire return from injury.
“The Ibrox star twisted his ankle against Ross County on Saturday and was replaced by teammate Malik Tillman after just 10 minutes.
“But it’s understood the damage is not as bad as feared and he will return sooner than what fans may have expected.”
Lundstram might not have been at his Borussia Dortmund best, however, he has also been struggling with injury for most of the season. Only recently has he looked more like the player we know he can be and was exceptional against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Michael Beale will have a starting line up pencilled in for the cup final already and I’d be surprised if Lundstram’s name isn’t in the middle of midfield, but the biggest question will be who partners him if he is fit enough?
The Gers gaffer will have to get that right and has two games in which to finalise his decision, nothing is ever straight forward in the Ibrox hot-seat – it wouldn’t be a big game if Rangers didn’t have injury problems now would it?