Rangers injury woes deepen with trio lost for next month - and one player possibly out till November

Rangers manager Michael Beale has revealed he will be without a trio of key performers for the club’s next six games as the result of Nicolas Raskin joining Danilo and Todd Cantwell on the club’s long-term injury list.

A calf injury sustained by the Belgian midfelder Raskin in Perth will render him unavailable until after the next international break in mid-October - with the compound cheek fracture sustained by striker Danilo in the same game possibly sidelining him for the next six weeks. Beale admitted it is “not ideal” to have lost the three performers for a period that will comprise two Europa League encounters – Real Betis visiting Ibrox for Thursday’s opener – next week’s Viaplay Cup quarter-final at home to Livingston and three vital Premiership fixtures. However, the Englishman is looking for others to step up, placing particular focus on playmaker Jose Cifuentes, who has had a limited impact since joining from LAFC in late August.

“Nico is out until after the international break with a calf problem,” the Rangers manager said. “He took a kick in the game and afterwards it has given him a problem in his muscle. Him, Todd and Danilo are the three that are missing. The reason Cifuentes didn’t play at the weekend was because he didn’t arrive back until the Friday morning from South America. So he’s ready to go. Ryan Jack is there so it doesn’t change with us having options in midfield. Nico was probably one of our strongest performers at the weekend so in that sense we’re losing a good player. But we have a good one coming in.

“[When it comes to] Danilo, I saw him yesterday and he still looks sore if I am honest. He had successful surgery on the areas, it’s not just one area impacted. I think he’ll be back in non-contact training around the back end of the international window. Ideally he will be back the first week after the October internationals, but it might be a couple of weeks after. We will just have to see, he has another consultancy in two weeks.

A calf injury has resulted in Nicolas Raskin joining Danilo and Todd Cantwell as players who will be unavailable to manager Michael Beale for a crucial period of the seasons.(Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

“I think once he’s back he will have to wear a mask but before that it has to be safe for him to even get to that stage. There will be a period of time, maybe three or four weeks, where he trains unopposed. We managed to have the surgery on Monday so the speed in terms of the turnaround was really good. That will probably save us some time at the back end of his rehab. Todd, I would say, is post-international break. He’s touch and go to make it for the last game, but that’s unlikely as I’m sat here today. He’s more likely to make the Hibs game [on October 21] after the international break.”