In the summer, Rangers made big changes at the back. Steven Gerrard clearly felt it was an area that needed vast improvement. One man who arrived at Ibrox was Croatian centre-back, Nikola Katic.
As reported by Sky Sports, Rangers agreed a £2 million fee with Slaven Belupo for the player’s services.
The 22-year-old made an immediate impression at Rangers. He played the full 90 minutes in the club’s first six league games and all of their unbeaten Europa League qualifying fixtures. In those 14 games for Rangers, they kept seven clean sheets. Katic, it seemed, had not broken a stride.
Then Joe Worrall and Gareth McAuley arrived and he started to drop out of the starting XI.
Katic has not played a single game for Rangers this month and has been left out of the matchday squad on several occasions.
It seems a shock call from Gerrard, considering how impressive Katic initially was.
Injury appeared an early reason. Indeed, Katic has only played three times since pulling out of the Croatia squad with an undisclosed problem in October.
This week, he played for 60 minutes for the Rangers reserves, so the injury does not appear to be the reason for his current absence.
Whilst Rangers may top the league, recent results against Aberdeen and Dundee have suggested Katic should be given another chance. His last appearance for the club was 45 minutes against Motherwell, a game Rangers won 7-1.
If fit, Katic should undoubtedly be given a place back in the Rangers starting XI. His current situation appears to be a mini-mystery. Hopefully, that is put to bed soon by an extended run of first-team football at Ibrox.