Rangers defender John Souttar insists there’s no secret to the injury-plagued centre-back’s resurgence at Ibrox.
The Scotland international, 28, has been on fine form for club and country this season and is emerging as one of the first names on the Rangers team sheet.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the defender, who has seen his career badly impacted by a series of major injury problems.
Ahead of the Gers’ Europa League clash against OGC Nice in France, John Souttar faced the press alongside manager Philippe Clement.
Now playing the most consistent football his career, Souttar insists that the only secret to finally finding his feet is ‘hard work’.
John Souttar on Rangers form
”I think it’s just hard work,” Souttar told the press ahead of the Europa League clash against OGC Nice. “Hard work from everyone at Rangers, the staff.
”Obviously when I came, when I arrived, my first season I had a lot of problems.
“But the last two seasons I’ve felt really good. This season I feel like I’m in a really good spot physically.
”I feel like I’m playing every three days and I feel really good, so that’s a credit to the club and everything that goes on behind the scenes.
”Because yeah, as I say, I feel really good and I feel comfortable playing every game.
“That’s a good feeling as a player when you feel comfortable playing every game and you feel like you can do that.
”Because when you’re at a big club and you want to play centre-back, you need to play every three (days), you have to be there, you have to be consistent.
”It was important for me in my stage of my career to get to that level and thankfully this season I have.”
Liverpool icon and Rangers manager hail defender
John Souttar’s form for Rangers and Scotland also hasn’t gone unnoticed.
After the defender’s matchwinning contribution in the late Scotland victory in Poland – where the defender’s last-minute cross found Andy Robertson to score – the Liverpool icon hailed the Ibrox defender.
Branding Souttar ‘unbelievable’, Robertson singled out Souttar’s contribution to Scotland’s Nations League campaign as ‘different class’.
“He’s been unbelievable in this Nation’s League,” said Robertson. “Especially the last four games, I think he’s been different class.
“He’s showed his quality and it was disappointing for him, I know how much it hurt him not getting picked for the Euros, some people will maybe think, ‘okay that’s my Scotland career over’ or whatever – not John.
“John worked so hard and he’s playing well for Rangers and he’s also doing unbelievable for Scotland.”
Rangers boss Philippe Clement also singled out the impact of John Souttar amid the Ibrox side’s devastating run of injury problems.
The Belgian manager hopes that Souttar’s resurgence can show fans that returning players could make a big difference for his struggling team.
“I think John (Souttar) is a good example in that way also for the past year,” said Clement.
“He had problems in the past in the way he’s performing in the last couple of months, regularly playing all these minutes.
“It’s the first time in his career that he’s played so many minutes and we have a few other examples in that way also. So that’s a positive and we want to keep it that way.
“We’re a lot of times busy with prevention, with the power, with the training, doing the right things. Now you start to see the fruits of all the things we’re working on the last couple of months and (Souttar) is also one proof of that.”
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