Giovanni van Bronckhorst gives Rangers fitness update on Ryan Jack and John Souttar
Van Bronckhorst won't arrange another friendly after Sunderland clash was cut short after just 45 minutes
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has given a fitness update on Rangers duo Ryan Jack and John Souttar.
And the Ibrox boss confirmed that he will not arrange another friendly after their meeting with Sunderland in Portugal was abandoned after 45 minutes. The Black Cats led the Gers 1-0 thanks to Luke O'Nien's first half strike, but play didn't resume after the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira was plunged into darkness.
Jack nor new signing Souttar wasn't in the squad. New striker Antonio Colak made his debut, but a number of Light Blues' stars didn't get any game time after the match was brought to a premature end. An intense Sunday session was organised to try and make up for that, but another game isn't on the cards due to lack of numbers.
Souttar will return to training this week after having some clean up work done on an injury he suffered while still at Hearts. Jack is managing a calf injury but will continue to take part in sessions whilst being monitored.
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"We had a session on [Sunday] with the players who didn’t play to give them physically a good session and we had everyone on board coming back.
"It is good. Of course we wished that we could have played for 90 minutes but in the end I think we made the right decision.
"John had to have some buttons pulled out of his ankle. It is nothing serious. He will start training this week.
"Ryan had an injury with his calf and he trained already this week. We are managing his load but he will be training with the squad as well.
"It is always difficult in the first week in pre-season. We started with a lot of youngsters, now gradually we are getting new players in and internationals are coming back.
"The first week you don’t have the full picture because you have many things. New players have to settle in, international players cannot come back straight away and everyone has different levels of fitness.
"In the next week to ten days we will have everyone fit and fresh."
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