‘Lot of hurdles’: Rangers boss Gerrard provides update on injured Ibrox star

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It’s been a wildly successful season for most players at Ibrox, but for Niko Katic 2020/21 has been a frustrating campaign.

He’s had to watch from the sidelines as his team-mates swept to glory in the Premiership, having sustained an anterior cruciate injury during pre-season training last summer.

The Croatian defender had become something of a cult figure among Rangers fans, with his winner against Celtic in December 2019 spurring wild celebrations at the final whistle.

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He was expected to be a key figure in the centre of Rangers’ defence this season, but has looked on as Connor Goldson, Filip Helander and Leon Balogun have contributed to a record of just 10 goals conceded in 33 league matches.

With five Premiership games remaining and a Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Celtic coming up, manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed Katic won’t kick a ball this season and provided an update on the 24-year-old centre-back’s progress.

As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Gerrard said: “We’re hoping that he can join the group for pre-season. That’s the big hope.

“If things progress well from now until then, Niko will come in for pre-season and hopefully start getting as fit as he can, to be available as soon as he can.

“It’s an injury that you have to be patient with. It’s a career-threatening injury.

“We all know that when it comes down to knee injuries that are six to nine months, you have to be really careful. There’s no cutting corners.

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“You have to listen to the specialists, take it step by step. There are still a lot of hurdles for Niko to get over.

“He’s been on the pitch starting to jog, which is a big step forward, and we now have to see how the knee reacts to being loaded at 100 per cent.

“He’s been running on a machine that takes some of the load off.

“At the moment there are still hurdles and things to tick in the short-term, but the dream and the plan for us is to have Niko available for pre-season training.”