‘He had issues’ – Manager explains why Rangers man failed to win int’l call-up
South Africa manager Molefi Ntseki has explained why new Rangers signing Bongani Zungu was not included in his most recent international squad.
South African international Zungu signed for Rangers on deadline day on a season-long loan from French side Amiens, but he was not called up by his country for the most recent round of international friendlies.
Ntseki has said that he doesn’t have any issues with Zungu and wants to give some new players a chance to shine on the international stage.
In an interview with SAFM radio, as transcribed by thesouthafrican.com, Ntseki said, “I’ve never had an issue with any of the players who are not selected. It’s only based on what we want to achieve. Most of the senior players were not selected because we wanted to give new faces a chance.
“He had issues with his club (about) moving to Rangers or staying at Amiens. It’s only in the last week he played for Amiens before moving to Rangers.”
Zungu’s omission from his national side could have led to rumours of an injury to the new Rangers man, but that now doesn’t seem to be the case and he should be available to Steven Gerrard for this weekend’s Old Firm game against Celtic.
The build-up to this weekend’s pivotal game has been dominated by news of injuries for both sides.
Celtic will be without Odsonne Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem ElHamed as they will all be isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. Ryan Christie will also miss the tie after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for the disease.
Rangers have injury worries of their own with Borna Barisic missing two of Croatia’s games in the last week despite being called up to the squad. But Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has said that the Gers fullback ‘is fine’ and claimed he will play Croatia’s next game against France on Tuesday night.
The Daily Record have also reported that goalkeeper Allan McGregor is a doubt for the game, meaning Jon McLaughlin could start his first Old Firm game in what could prove to be the Gers most important game of the season so far.
In other Rangers news, Rangers fans have hit out after latest the SFA’s statement.