The John Souttar situation at Rangers deepened today when Derek McInnes confirmed the boy needs to leave.
The Scotland defender was inexplicably excluded from the Spanish camp in the summer. This was following the world cup, and has remained exiled ever since with no move out materialising.
This all followed his new contract in February taking him to 2028.
With McInnes’ arrival, Souttar was immediately cast out and no reason was ever given for his exile.
And questioned on the situation, Rangers’ manager said thus:
“Yeah, I think he still can (play for Rangers). I think the likelihood is that John’s been told really his long-term future would be best served elsewhere.
He still has good opportunities. There’s still an opportunity to move. There are a few windows still open across Europe and there are a few things looking possible for John.
I don’t want to speculate how much that is, but I think there are one or two things he’s quite keen on and one or two things that are maybe gaining a wee bit of traction.
So, yeah, of course our window to bring players in is shut, but there’s still that possibility for John.
Probably for him to go and get regular football and peace of mind, that might be the best option for him.
But if he doesn’t move and nothing materialises, then of course we honour the contract and he comes back into things.”
The wording here is remarkable. McInnes appears to be under instructions from above, and either he is being incredibly cautious with his language or he’s been told by those above him that Souttar is to go.
First of all, ‘I think the likelihood is he’s been told‘…. then ‘of course we honour the contract‘.
This implies the canning of the ex-Hearts man has nothing to do with the new boss, but comes from others.
The whole situation around Souttar is unprecedented.
Yes we’re aware of a tonne of rumours about what happened here. No, we are not feeding any of them.
But the end result is Souttar is done at Rangers, and if he doesn’t leave, there is no chance he’ll be back in the matchday squad, we assure you. The club would either pay him off or he just trains till 2028 or a deal can be done with another club.
Quite how it went this south this fast for Souttar is a bizarre mystery.