John Souttar: Medical expert issues ‘worrying’ verdict after latest on Rangers-bound star
John Souttar’s injury record in recent years is “worrying” – but Rangers will be hoping that he is now over the worst.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Souttar, 25, signed a pre-contract agreement in January and will join Rangers on the expiry of his Hearts deal in the summer.
As relayed by the Scottish Sun last Wednesday (9 March), the centre-back is waiting on the results of a scan on an ankle injury.
The four-times Scotland star has suffered hugely with Achilles problems in recent years.
Dinnery claims that his injury record will have been addressed in his Ibrox medical.
“This will have formed a big part of the medical assessment,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“People wrongly assume that when you have a medical, it’s either pass or fail. It’s not like that.
“The medical physician or club doctor will make a list of recommendations. The Achilles will form part of that assessment.
“They will give an honest opinion of how it might affect him in the future.
“If you looked at the last few seasons, his availability rate has been impacted massively. He had 11 league starts across 2019-20 and 2020-21.
“That is a worry. However, you look at this season and his availability is very good.
“Potentially, he could end up playing the most Premiership minutes this season than he has done in his recent career.
“I think he’s shown he’s over that significant setback. It’ll need to be discussed but I think this season he has shown he has been able to bounce back.“
Souttar has scored four goals in 31 appearances this season.
His Hearts side are 3rd in the Scottish Premiership, 20 points behind 2nd-place Rangers.
In other news, Kieran Maguire suggests Rangers could sign “special player” as Dave King speaks out over Celtic agreement.