Michael Beale has admitted things don’t look so good for Rangers playmaker Tom Lawrence, after being unable to give any tangible update on his injury issues and revealing the club may have to look into ‘alternatives’.
Speaking before the trip to Rugby Park tonight, Beale was saddened to discuss Lawrence and had no positive prognosis on the former Derby man at all.
He said:
“He had a slight setback and he went away to get an opinion. The opinion is ‘okay let’s see how things are going’. Some things he can do at this stage that someone that had that injury problem probably shouldn’t be able to do. And he’s had a bit of discomfort at times in areas that he shouldn’t. It’s slowly does it at the moment and there’s not really much more to say than that. He is still not back with the group and we are just going to assess as we go how he feels and whether he can then start working with the group which will see a quick return or it doesn’t go to plan and we have to look at an alternative.”
Unfortunately at best this is vague, at worst the club are considering replacing the player, depending on how you interpret ‘alternative’. It could mean ‘plan for the player’, a long-term rehabilitation, but sadly this is one of those nasty injuries for a player which means long-term issues and struggles to be a quick fix.
As Beale says, ‘there’s not much more to say than that’ and that’s the worst part – that the Rangers boss cannot give a clear and concise update on when the club can possibly expect the ex-Derby man back.
Lawrence missed out on a surefire place at the world cup with his country, which will have devastated him, and right now his 22/23 season is being royally wrecked. Going by Beale’s comments, albeit we know how reliable his word can be, nevertheless we’re wondering if we’ll see Lawrence back at all this season.
It’s a bad one, and there is no sign of light yet for the front man. A real shame.