Rangers ‘boost’ could ‘benefit Celtic’ after confirmed news this week – McAvennie
Several Rangers stars’ return to fitness could be a blessing in disguise for Celtic ahead of next month’s Old Firm.
That’s according to former Hoops hitman Frank McAvennie, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after a fitness update from Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
On Tuesday (25 January) Van Bronckhorst revealed Filip Helander has returned to training and that Steven Davis will follow suit soon.
This came before Ryan Jack made his return from injury in Wednesday’s (26 January) 1-0 win over Livingston.
As Rangers are boosted by returning players ahead of the Old Firm, Celtic are struggling with several key players doubts for the game.
However, McAvennie claims this development may hamper Rangers and benefit Celtic.
“Rangers have all these players coming back,” McAvennie told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild.
“For me, the wrong thing to do would be to throw them into the mix for the Old Firm.
“Then you have a load of players who maybe aren’t match-fit playing in a massive game.
“That could benefit Celtic, in my opinion. I know we have a lot of players out injured.
“But our starting side will be full of players who have been playing for a few weeks now.
“Rangers’ could be a bit mix and match. It will make for an interesting game in any case.
“I just don’t think all these players coming back is the boost some people think it is.”
Callum McGregor, Yosuke Ideguchi and Kyogo Furuhashi are all out injured and could miss the next Old Firm.
The two rivals face off at Parkhead on 2 Feburary.
In other news, Rangers have been tipped to spend ‘a lot of money’ on a January transfer after the latest update.