Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has suggested that he wouldn’t bring defender Nikola Katic back to the club even if he could.
The Gers are in Europa League action tonight, hosting Lyon at Ibrox in their first group stage game.
Rangers are facing problems at the back though, with Filip Helander now ruled out with a knee injury.
Connor Goldson has only just been made available too, and with Jack Simpson not registered for the Europa League, Gerrard is scrambling for defensive options.
Katic’s loan move under scrutiny
Rangers actually allowed centre back Katic to leave Ibrox on deadline day.
The Croatian defender was loaned to Hajduk Split for first-team action. Katic suffered a major knee injury in the summer of 2020, and hasn’t played for Rangers since.
Rangers hope that Katic will come back from Croatia fit and ready to go again, feeling that he needed first-team football.
That seemingly wasn’t going to come at Rangers. Unsurprisingly, the decision to send Katic away has now come under scrutiny with a number of defensive issues at Ibrox.
Gerrard comments on Katic returning to Rangers
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has now spoken to the Daily Record, and had to field a question about Katic.
There is no route for Katic to return right now, but Gerrard says he wouldn’t bring him back to Rangers anyway.
Gerrard believes bringing Katic back right now would be ‘selfish’ – seemingly indicating that he wouldn’t play regularly once Simpson and Helander can be picked again.
“Even if I had the opportunity to bring Niko back I wouldn’t because it would be very selfish from me,” said Gerrard.
“Niko’s at a stage where he needs to play regularly to get back to his level and I think he’s in the right place for that.
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