John Souttar and his start to life at Rangers
Rangers' Scottish midfielder John Souttar (L) fights for the ball as he tackles Tottenham Hotspur's Brazilian striker Richarlison during the friendly football match between Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow on July 23, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
There are claims being made that John Souttar was to miss various Rangers friendlies through ‘personal reasons’ but the former Hearts defender didn’t miss a single one, so we’re not sure how true that is, because for whatever reason, the new Rangers man hasn’t hit the ground running yet for the Famous and has struggled with the step up.
The thing is, Souttar was originally signed as a stopgap free transfer precontract because Rangers were 100% convinced Connor Goldson was going to leave – Souttar was a body brought in as a replacement in the summer.
The club were wary about paying Hearts’ asking price of around £600,000 give or take because they didn’t know if the lad was needed immediately or not.
As it turned out, Goldson stayed, and Gio gave the situation with Souttar away a little bit when he signed Ben Davies as a ‘left footed CH’.
Souttar is right footed and Gio likes to play symmetrical defenders. Goldson is a righty, and thinking he was moving on, Souttar was clinched on a Bosman. Back in Gio’s Feyenoord days he used Terence Kongolo (lefty) on that side of defence.
But as Gio said it, lefties are hard to find in this market, and so he brought in Davies.
Which leaves Souttar a bit in limbo.
He has struggled in preseason, whether it’s the step up or personal reasons… or possibly both, we don’t know, but the standard has raised now and fans aren’t quite won over by the Scotland international just yet.
He’s not been helped by James Sands’ impressive displays at the back this preseason which have probably propelled the versatile USA international ahead of him.
But Souttar needs time to settle, and to grasp what it is to be a Ranger, so we say get off his back like we say get off Ryan Kent’s too.
Goldson’s change of mind really did confuse things a little at Ibrox.