Gareth McAuley makes big claim concerning Rangers’s Jordan Jones

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Gareth McAuley has heaped praise on Jordan Jones after fighting back from the brink of the Ibrox exit, and insisted that the winger can become a key player for Rangers, in comments reported by the Daily Record.

Many Rangers fans would have been incredibly surprised had they been told earlier in the year that Jones would still be with the Gers following the closure of the transfer window.

The Daily Record reported in July that Steven Gerrard had told Jones that he could find a new club. He had been a peripheral figure for the club after being sent off in an Old Firm game last term.

However, he has been handed a few chances at the start of this campaign. And with the deadline passing last week, it is now set in stone that Jones is going nowhere, until January at least.

In truth, it would have been a shock if he had moved on in the final days of the window. He scored a superb goal against Motherwell towards the end of last month that arguably confirmed the 25-year-old’s turnaround was complete.

McAuley – who has played alongside Jones at international level, but retired in the same summer the wide-man arrived at Rangers – suggested that he has high hopes for his countryman now that he is back in the fold.

“There were many who believed he was finished at Ibrox but he has never lost faith, put the head down and worked hard,” he said, as reported by the Daily Record.

“I’m thrilled for Jordan. Full of confidence, he can be a top player for Rangers.”

TBR View: Jones can now targeting emulating Barisic

It was just over 13 months between Borna Barisic’s winner at St Mirren and Jones’s goal against Well.

Barisic’s free-kick seemed to be a real catalyst for the left-back as he went on to establish himself as a key man for Gerrard. Like Jones this summer, there had been questions asked about the defender’s future in the previous window.

Jones showed at Kilmarnock that he is a potential game-changer. And he now needs to prove that he can have the same impact at Ibrox.

McAuley is clearly confident that he will.