Rangers manager Mark Warburton believes that Nathan Oduwa will have to deal with physical play from defenders in the Scottish Championship if he wants to stand a chance of making the grade back at parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Tricky forward Oduwa was singled out for attention during Rangers' win over Livingston in the Petrofac Training Cup earlier this week, something which led to Warburton bringing him off at half time.
Warburton would like to see flair players such as Oduwa receive greater protection from referees, but the former Brentford boss warned the Spurs starlet he must learn to deal with physical play aimed in his direction if he wants to make the grade at White Hart Lane when he returns from his loan spell.
"Nathan coming off at half time was a negative for us, but going forward hopefully there is close attention paid to flair players like Nathan and every team has their flair player", Warburton said in a press conference.
"It’s about entertainment, we’re in the entertainment industry. And it’s looking after the players, all the players not just the entertainers, but they are the ones in the spotlight more often than not", the Rangers manager continued.
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"He’s 19 years of age, on loan from a Premier League club from down south. His job is to come here and our job is to come here and make him a better player.
"So hopefully he goes back to Tottenham at the end of the season a better player having learned from situations such as that.
"He’s got to deal with it.
"The English Premier League is a physical league as well so he’s got to deal with it, learn how to ride it and move forward from there. I’m sure he’ll have no problem doing that."
Oduwa will be hoping to be back in action tomorrow when Rangers face a testing league encounter against St Mirren as they look to extend their run of ten wins from ten games in the Championship.
