Rangers: John Lundstram has been playing through injury for weeks
John Lundstram has been one of Rangers’ best performers so far this season but he has been doing it recently while carrying an injury.
The 28-year-old has had a small tear in his ankle for a number of weeks but it is not in a state where it is likely to get any worse immediately so he has been told he can continue playing without the need for rest or surgery.
The Englishman spoke to UFC star Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett on his podcast about injuries in sport before revealing the knock he has been coping with.
“I’ve been playing with an ankle injury like the last three weeks,” Lundstram said. “Just got it scanned on Monday after the last game we had and I’ve just got some tear and a little skin thing. I don’t know the scientific word for it.
“As long as they say ‘it’s structurally sound and you’re not going to do any further damage and you can crack on’, I just crack on. I can’t remember the last time I played without some sort of niggle.”
Captain-like courage
There could have been questions regarding whether Rangers had any other leaders outside of captain and his vice James Tavernier and Connor Goldson but Lundstram has answered that now.
It would have been really easy for him to say that he needs surgery and time away from playing to recover to allow him to leave the bubble of football for a bit while still getting paid a handsome amount.
But he knows that it could all be taken away in an instant and there is no reason to sit out of a game unless it would be physically too much in any regard.
Tavernier won’t be losing the captain’s armband anytime soon at Ibrox but Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be relieved to know that there are other senior professionals who are ready to step up if they are required to do so.
Hopefully, this injury does not get worse as Lundstram predicts it won’t and he can remain an integral part of the squad.
In other Rangers news, one player who has been out for months through injury has hit back at critics claiming he should have been back by now.