With every European game that passes, there is a name missing from the line-up that sticks out like a sore thumb – Ryan Jack.
His ability to contribute at both ends of the park and carry out every instruction to perfection makes him a manager’s dream and it might be that we don’t have to wait that much longer to see him in action.
Writing in The Athletic, Rangers correspondent Jordan Campbell has revealed what surgery the Gas midfielder underwent to get to the route of his recurring calf problems and what the timeline is for his recovery:
“It is part of the reason why Gerrard admitted he and his staff had been trying to get him back as quickly as possible this pre-season, only to be advised to slow down the timeline of his return. It is understood Jack’s surgery was on his upper back, which is believed to have been identified as connected to the recurring calf issues which had interrupted his last 18 months.
“There is an understandably cautious approach being taken to ensure his body has healed properly and that he responds well while being eased back in gradually.
“Now that they have, hopefully, got to the bottom of the issue there is optimism that when he does make the step up from light training in the next few weeks he will be able to play a fuller part this season than he was able to in the last one.”
The article has insight from former Rangers midfielders Jamie Barjonas and Greg Docherty in which Jack’s importance on and off the pitch is left in absolutely no doubt – a natural leader who refuses to accept failure, who’s standards never drop be it in training or during games.
He might not score a lot of goals of create a lot of chances but again, as we saw against Lyon, he offers something that nobody else in our midfield offers – he’s aggressive, dynamic, and very rarely wastes a pass, not every pass can go forwards and Jack is master at picking the right one.
Fingers crossed that the operation has been a success and that problem has been fixed, yes, we’ve signed John Lundstram and Juninho Bacuna but they can’t replace a player who is a diehard fan who knows exactly what it takes to be a Ranger.