When Rangers signed John Souttar on a pre-contract agreement, he was at the core of a Hearts side that was on their way to third in the table, a place in Europe and the Scottish Cup final – after a torrid time with injuries, he played more games than he had done for years.
Typically though, he aggravated an old injury on international duty after the domestic season finished and carried it into pre-season training. A 45-minute struggle against Livingston on the opening day being the sum total of his efforts until recent games when he has come off the bench in an attempt to build up his match fitness.
Speaking ahead of our league clash with Motherwell, Souttar has revealed the frustration of signing for a new club and not being able to make an immediate impact, as reported by Football Scotland:
“Pre-season was a bit of a struggle for me, obviously because I brought over an injury from Scotland in the summer. It was tough for me because I felt like I was always managing an injury.
“But a few months down the line, I’m feeling brilliant. I’m just looking to start my Rangers career from now.
“When you think about signing for Rangers you think about starting, being 100 per cent, kicking on from where I was last season. I wanted to play in the Champions League so for me to get so close to that and having to watch them from the sides was difficult day-in, day-out.
“Especially at a new club because you want to show everyone how good you are. It was difficult from that point of view but I feel I’m now at a point where I can show everyone what I can do.”
Souttar’s absence was never more felt than when Connor Goldson joined the queue for the treatment room, suddenly having all our eggs in his basket and gambling on Filip Helander or the summer recruit being fit didn’t look so clever, Ben Davies’s personal struggles did little to help Giovanni van Bronckhorst either
The Scotland international might not have the club experience at the highest level, however, he has shown for his country just how accomplished a defender he is and having him available again is a huge benefit to the squad. Davies and Goldson have struck up a solid looking partnership but they will now be pushed all the way and be able to sit the odd game out if they are less than 100% fit.
As Michael Beale hinted, Souttar’s return to fitness also means that he can experiment with a change of formation with three top quality centre-halves who are all comfortable in possession, let’s hope that now he feels so good that he can stay that way.