Rangers legend would take Steven Naismith back at Ibrox, but he’s happy at Norwich City

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Norwich City’s Steven Naismith played for Ibrox club Glasgow Rangers from 2007 until 2012.

Derek Johnstone wrote in The Glasgow Evening Times last week that he would take Steven Naismith back at Rangers.

Naismith, now on the books of Norwich City in the Championship in England, played for Rangers from 2007 until 2012.

The 30-year-old, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or as a forward, played well for the Gers during that period, helping the Ibrox outfit win the league title thrice, the Scottish Cup once, and the Scottish League Cup twice.

The Scotland international left Rangers in the summer of 2012 to join Everton in the Premier League in England.

Naismith left the Gers as a free agent after refusing a switch to Charles Green’s newco club The Rangers, as reported by The Daily Record in June 2012.

Rangers legend Johnstone, who played for the club in the 1970s and 1980s, wrote in The Glasgow Evening Times last week that 25-year-old Motherwell striker Louis Moult would be a better signing than Naismith for Pedro Caixinha’s Rangers, but added that he would take the Norwich forward back.

“If Rangers are in for another player, as has been rumoured, it needs to be an attacking option,” Johnstone wrote in The Glasgow Evening Times.

“For me, given that Rangers need a 20/25 goals per season man, Louis Moult would have been the prefect choice – proven, dangerous and with an excellent record in Scotland. Instead, Rangers have been linked with Steven Naismith.

“Does anyone believe that one will happen? Not me. Just look at the facts. Forget how he’d be received back at Rangers. Some won’t want him near the place given the circumstances of his departure.

“But I’d take him back. Think of everything he did for Rangers during his time here? He might even take a massive pay drop. Who knows?”

However, former Kilmarnock and Everton forward Naismith has suggested that he is not looking to leave Norwich in the summer transfer window, and that he wants to carry on playing for the Canaries.

“I have come back here this summer and I think the manager likes me,” Naismith told The Eastern Daily Press. “I have worked really hard and I am learning every day I am in training with him.

“I want that to continue. Obviously I have a couple of suspensions for a couple of games that I have to see through but after that I will work as hard as I can to get into the team.

“Every player here is enjoying it and wants to impress the manager. I am no different. That is all you can do as a player.”