Glasgow Rangers have started their pre-season training, and the Ibrox side have been joined by a Champions League winner.
With a number of players linked with Ibrox moves this summer, Rangers fans would be forgiven for keeping a close eye on the photos coming from their pre-season training camp in Portugal in case they notice one of their reported targets suddenly working with Steven Gerrard’s squad.
But even those who are most optimistic about the season ahead would not have expected an image to emerge from the camp showing a £75 million Champions League-winning defender working alongside Gerrard’s men.
Evening Times Senior Sports Writer Chris Jack confirmed on Twitter that Virgil van Dijk is at Rangers’ training base. However, it is probably fair to say that there is no reason to believe that a medical is just around the corner.
The London Evening Standard reports that Liverpool’s players are not expected to return for pre-season until July 6th following their triumph over Tottenham in Madrid earlier this month, so it would appear that van Dijk – who was also part of the Netherlands squad that finished runners-up in the Nations League – is just working with Rangers to keep his fitness up before returning to Melwood next month.
Despite his Celtic connections, it is not a huge surprise that Gerrard has opened the door for the centre-back – who became the world’s most expensive defender when he joined the Reds in 2018, according to BBC Sport – with the Gers boss maintaining strong links with Liverpool since his switch to Ibrox.
But while some may be expecting the Rangers players to try and use their time with van Dijk as productively as possible, it appears that plenty of Gers fans on social media believe that the Dutchman would be wise to reach out to Nikola Katic while he has the chance to get some tips off the Croatian ahead of the coming campaign.
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