Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha has revealed that David Bates and Jordan Rossiter are close to returning to training, ahead of his side’s trip to St. Johnstone on Friday.

Rossiter, who has struggled with injuries since joining Rangers from Liverpool in 2016, has managed to clock up just 197 minutes over four appearances in all competitions this season.




On the other hand, Bates is yet to make an appearance for the Gers this season as he has also been plagued with injury concerns.

But Caixinha, who explained that he expects Bates to return to training on Thursday and feels Rossiter will be able to do the same next week, also said that Danny Wilson and Niko Kranjcar have rejoined the main squad.
 


However, the Portuguese manager is concerned about Bruno Alves and Ross McCrorie, who will return to Rangers later in the week, owing to their international duties with Portugal and Scotland Under-21s respectively.

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“It’s going to be a short week as we play on Friday, so the players who will play on Tuesday like Bruno, and we hope he plays against Switzerland, will only have three days to recover”, Caixinha told Rangers TV.

“The same will happen with Ross who is playing in Latvia.

“This is the reality, and we need to organise things in that way.

“The boys who are here are doing a great job and the only thing we are thinking about at the moment is getting three more points on Friday.

“Maybe next week, Jordan can start training with the team.

“Niko and Danny started the previous week and will be with us again this week.

“I think David Bates too can join us on Thursday, so that means that the squad is getting completed again and we can have more options.

“All the boys who have been options in the last games have been doing great, doing what we want, and we are happy to have everyone on board so we have much more competitiveness which gives us more doubts in terms of the selection of the players.

“That is great for us.”

Rangers are currently third in the Scottish Premiership table with 14 points from eight games, six adrift of leaders Celtic.