Rangers must hand new contract to Steven Davis as Ibrox news emerges
Rangers must hand a new contract to Steven Davis if he is able to make a full recovery from his career-threatening injury, according to Barry Ferguson.
The 38-year-old suffered a knock in training that has brought his season to an end and it may be unlikely that Rangers will choose to renew his contract at the end of the campaign.
Nevertheless, Ferguson confessed that despite the “sketchy” details surrounding Davis’ injury, the medical team will be desperate to get him back up and running.
“For me, it’s a no-brainer. If the doctors believe he’s going to come back and be ready to go again at some point next season then I’d be offering him a new deal right now. Listen, I know a lot of Rangers fans are looking for young blood to come in and for the whole squad to be overhauled. I don’t disagree with them. It’s badly needed,” said Ferguson as quoted by the Daily Record.
“But players like Steven Davis don’t come around that often and if he’s going to make a full recovery then the club should do whatever it takes to keep him around. He’s not going to play every game at this stage in his career. But I do honestly believe there’s a big part for him still to play as Beale moves forward.
“Put it this way, in the new man’s first game in charge against Hibs it was Davis who came off the bench to settle things down and restore a bit of calmness to the middle of the park. So much so, in fact, that I’m convinced he would have started at Pittodrie a few days later if he hadn’t picked up this injury in training.
“So Beale will be cursing his luck that a player of that quality is now unavailable at such a critical point in the season. But, looking forward, it’s an easy decision for the manager to give him a new contract so long as the damage done is not career-ending.
“I realise some people will say Rangers need major surgery over the course of the next couple of transfer windows and they’ll question why they should be holding onto a player of Davo’s age. But, trust me on this, the guy is absolutely invaluable and I’m pretty sure Beale will have worked that out for himself.”
Rough.
It’s a rough situation for Rangers to deal with here but the plan always seemed to be to let Davis sail off into the sunset at the end of the season.
Davis has been fantastic during his two spells for the Gers and definitely deserves some form of send-off should the club and himself part ways.
The club may even choose to keep Davis in and around the club in a coaching role if his dressing room influence is as big as Ferguson is suggesting.
This might actually be the only way to keep in at Ibrox, as by the time he returns from injury, his current contract will be signed sealed and finished.
Potentially a short-term deal could be figured out for Davis, one which would give him a massive salary decrease, with the Gers wanting to free up their wage bill.
But something just feels like this is the end for Davis at the club, unfortunately, and there aren’t much worse ways to bow out of a team than a season-ending injury.
In other Rangers news, a £5million twist has emerged in Southampton’s bid to sign Ryan Kent.