The Scotland international has signed a pre-contract agreement with the Ibrox club who beat off interest from several English Championship sides including Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United to land the 25-year-old.
Souttar is out of contract at Hearts this summer and was available to join another club for free. He agreed terms on a long-term deal with the Scottish champions after meeting manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst and director of football Ross Wilson.
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Hide AdConfirming the move, Wilson said: “We are really looking forward to John joining Rangers and continuing his development under Gio, our coaching and support staff.


“John is a full Scotland international and has so much potential ahead for the coming years. I have really enjoyed getting to know John across all of our conversations so far and I can see how excited he and his family are to be joining Rangers. We are equally excited to welcome John to Ibrox.”
Hearts offered the centre-back a new deal in an effort to keep him in Edinburgh but he decided to leave several weeks ago.
The lure of Champions League football is believed to have been a major factor in Souttar’s decision in addition to challenging for the Scottish Premiership title.
Rangers may be willing to do a deal this month but Tynecastle officials are adamant they will not sell one of their most influential players on the cheap.
They paid £120,000 to sign Souttar from Dundee United back in 2016 and will want a substantial transfer fee to do any quick deal with counterparts at Ibrox.
A club statement read: "Heart of Midlothian Football Club notes Rangers Football Club’s announcement of John Souttar’s pre-contract signing.
"The club reiterates that John is an important member of the first-team squad and will remain so until the end of the season unless a significant and satisfactory offer is made during the January transfer window.
"No further comment will be made at this time."
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Hide AdSouttar suffered three ruptured Achilles during his time at Tynecastle but has stayed injury-free and played consistently since returning to action last April.