Nikola Katic’s Rangers future decided by boss Van Bronckhorst as Matondo injury blow revealed
RANGERS boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has confirmed that it is the end of the road at Ibrox for Croatian defender Nikola Katic.
The Croatian centre-back's future has been up for debate since his return from a season long loan with Hadjuk Split back in his homeland.
Katic hasn't featured in a competitive game for Rangers since March 2020 thanks to a knee injury that ruled him out for all of the disrupted Covid season before he spent all of last campaign out on loan.
The big defender has divided opinion in his time in Glasgow among the Rangers support making 60 appearances under Steven Gerrard before falling down the pecking order in place of Filip Helander, Conor Goldson and Leon Balogun in recent seasons.
The Rangers boss confirmed that after limited minutes throughout pre-season, Katic has been tasked with finding a new club as his future now lies away from Ibrox after excluding him from his European squad.
He said: " Yeah (we are looking to find him a new club) and i've spoken to him.
"Niko was on loan last season and it's always good for me to work with other players that we have under contract and Niko was one of those.
"He's been back this pre-season and he is a great person.
"I spoke with Niko last week about his future with the club and we came to the agreement that it would be nice for Niko to have a new start.
"We agreed that it would be nice for him to find another club and play elsewhere.
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"His future for the next season at least will not be at Rangers.
"He obviously has to find a club where he will play and we'll help him with that.
"Hopefully he'll be able to find a new challenge elsewhere."
Katic had only recently spoken about his Rangers struggles for the first time.
He has found minutes hard to come by during pre-season despite being given a chance to impress Giovanni van Bronkchorst and now finds himself as the club's fourth choice centre-back.
He told Sportske novosti: "I have a contract, I played some matches during the preparations, some I didn't.
"There are a lot of us, there is strong competition, but as everywhere, the struggle is day by day.
"I think I have the quality to play for Rangers, but of course it all depends on the coach, we'll see.
"That's all I can say, I can't say whether I'll stay at Rangers or not, whether I'll sign a new contract or not."
Elsewhere Van Bronkchorst confirmed that Welsh star Rabbi Matondo will MISS his side's curtain raiser against Livingston.
The winger picked up an injury in training that will see him just miss out on making his competitive bow for the Ibrox side after his £2.5m move from Schalke and he's impressed in pre-season so far.
Van Bronkchorst said: "We have a few injuries.
"Rabbi had his first individual session today after his injury and he looked good.
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"He's just a little bit short of time and that mean's he'll miss tomorrow's game against Livingston.
"He'll return to the group on Sunday where we prepare for Tuesday's game."
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