Souttar set to be cup-tied if Rangers make January move
Rangers could have a stumbling block put in their path to signing Hearts defender John Souttar with the Scot set to play in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
Jambos manager Robbie Neilson has revealed his intent to field a full-strength team against West of Scotland Premier Division club Auchinleck Talbot.
That would include Souttar who is joining Rangers at the end of the season but any pursuit of a deal that would see him join this month could be thrown into jeopardy.
“We don’t have a big enough squad to rotate too much,” Neilson said, as quoted in Football Scotland.
“We have to be professional and respect Auchinleck and we go down there and put in a professional performance.
“We’ll go full strength. We’ve got seven games in 22 days. We’ve spoken to the boys about how every game is just as important as the next one so it’s important we go into these matches at it right from the start.”
Why bother?
Whether Souttar is a Rangers player this month or not, the Light Blues still have the best team and squad in the division.
Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun are just two of the players that have proven to be more than capable central defenders and going to the effort of spending money on Souttar this month is questionable, to say the least.
He is already heading to Ibrox in the summer and if he does feature for Hearts on Saturday, that is just another unnecessary hurdle to jump for the club.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst isn’t going to throw a tantrum if Souttar can’t be brought in this month, nor will it have an effect on the Scottish Premiership title race, it’s best to just wait.
In other Rangers news, this Gers ace has issued his demands to teammates ahead of their own Scottish Cup tie.