Rangers star crocked, Celtic loanee set for recall, Miovski contract talks, Hearts target 7 deals - Scottish football news

News from around Scottish football this Wednesday morning including another major injury blow for Rangers and a possible Celtic departure

Rangers striker Danilo has been ruled out until April with a knee injury picked up during last week's win at Hearts. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Rangers star crocked

Rangers have suffered another major injury blow with the news that Danilo has been ruled out for four months with a knee injury. The £6m summer signing from Feyenoord picked up the injury during the 1-0 win at Hearts last week and a scan has confirmed that he will require surgery followed by a lengthy rehab, according to the Scottish Sun. It means the Brazilian will not be available for selection until April at the earliest leaving manager Philippe Clement without his first-choice striker for most of the rest of the season. It is the second major injury to befall Danilo this season – the 24-year-old missed six weeks of action after suffering a fractured cheekbone against St Johnstone in September – and the latest in a series of injury blows suffered by the Ibrox club this season. Danilo updated Rangers fans on his Instagram page with a message which read: “Out of necessity not able to do what I love the most for a period of time. I’ll support the team from a distance for the upcoming games. For now I need to focus to heal my knee and getting back as soon as possible. Thank you all for the concern, I will come back stronger.”

Hearts target 7 deals

Hearts want to sign least seven more players on new contracts over the next few weeks, according to a report. They agreed a new deal with striker Liam Boyce last week to ensure he stays until at least 2025, and others are set to follow. The Edinburgh Evening News claim that initial discussions have taken place with goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who is keen to stay and finish his career at Tynecastle after recently returning from a double leg-break. Centre-back Craig Halkett and midfielder Beni Baningime are also in talks, with winger Alan Forrest also expected to be offered a new deal along with three young B team prospects - goalkeeper Liam McFarlane (19), versatile defender Ethan Drysdale (18) and prolific striker Makenzie Kirk (19).

Celtic loanee set for recall

Liverpool are reportedly considering recalling defender Nat Phillips from his loan at Celtic due to their injury situation. Jurgen Klopp has lost centre-back Joel Matip for the rest of the season to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, leaving his side light on cover in the heart of the defence. Ibrahima Konaté is expected to step into the breach as Virgil Van Dyk's main defensive partner at the back, but the Frenchman has also been plagued by injury this season. According to The Mirror, Celtic loanee Phillips could be summoned back to Merseyside in order to help provide cover. Phillips signed a loan deal until January in the summer but has only started four matches for the Scottish champions and scored an own goal in the 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Miovski contract talks

Aberdeen could be set to offer top scorer Bojan Miovski a new contract amid rumoured interest from Celtic. The North Macedonia international is hot property having bagged 30 goals since joining the Dons in the summer of 2022 from MTK Budapest. His prolific form has reportedly piqued the interest of Celtic who are in the market for a striker ahead of the likely loss of Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Oh Hyeon-gyu to the Asian Cup in January. Miovski is currently under contract until 2026 and is valued at £4m but Aberdeen bosses are keen to tie down their prize asset on a longer deal in order to maximise his potential fee. Aberdeen chief executive Alan Burrows said: "We would love to extend his stay at Aberdeen. We're not naive enough to think players like Bojan, with the quality he has, and if he continues to play at the level he's at, won't alert big clubs. That's the nature of the football jungle and how it goes. What we want to try and do is to keep Miovski here as long as we can. At some point, he will leave Aberdeen because all players leave clubs, then we hope to get maximum value. Clearly with his contract situation, the more length you have on a contract the more value you can drive. It doesn't mean Boajn signing a new contract rules everyone out from buying him, but it might make it more valuable for us and potentially Bojan as well."