For the first time in years, just two players stand between Rangers and a fully-fit squad in which every single player is available for selection after GVB confirmed the return of Leon Balogun.

The unfortunate Nnamdi Oboforh, who remains sidelined with a heart issue and no ETA, and Filip Helander whose ETA is around early January, are the only men not available for Giovanni van Bronckhorst which gives the biggest possible selection pool for the next two games.

Naturally not every player was selected by the ex-boss for the UEL group stage, but overall 28 of 30 players including the returning Leon Balogun and slowly-getting-back fitness Ryan Jack will be at the manager’s disposal in the coming weeks.

This is a critical time for all these players to be available, going into the tough winter stretch of the next 6 weeks, and having lower squad numbers with more injuries is far from ideal.

But this season, thankfully, Rangers’ numbers are very strong, and gives well over two players for almost every position.

Two left backs (Bassey, Barisic), two right backs (Tav, Patterson), 3 defenders (Goldson, Balogun, Simpson), 5 defensive midfielders (Jack, Davis, Kamara, Lundstram, Kelly), 2 forward midfielders (Arfield, Aribo), one general mid (Bacuna), 2 wingers (Wright, Kent), utility forwards (Roofe, Sakala, Hagi) and 2 strikers (Morelos, Defoe) mean the squad is in decent enough shape. Plus those 3 goalies.

It’s a good state to be in, but only XI can be picked.

Gio will have to disappoint a lot of players!