GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST is confident striker Alfredo Morelos will return to action sooner rather than later as he targets a Champions League outing over the next ten days.
Morelos has stepped up his recovery from the thigh injury that ruled him out of the closing weeks of last season and has been named in the squad for the third qualifying round tie with Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Colombian is poised to agree a new deal to remain at Ibrox beyond the end of the campaign and he is now closing in on a return to action as Rangers aim to hit the ground running at home and abroad this term.
Van Bronckhorst said: "He is already training in big parts of the session with us and he looks stronger every day when he joins us. Hopefully we can have him back really quickly in the squad to be involved.
"We named him in the squad for the first ties of the competition so Tuesday and Tuesday week and hopefully he will get involved really soon."
Van Bronckhorst will be without Rabbi Matondo for the Premiership curtain-raiser against Livingston after he suffered an injury blow last week.
The winger will be fit for the USG clash but Filip Helander and Kemar Roofe remain long-term absentees and no date has yet been set for their respective returns.
Youngster Alex Lowry is working with the B Team as he continues to regain his fitness and the Ibrox squad will be boosted by the arrival of left-back Ridvan Yilmaz over the weekend.
The Turkish internationalist clinched a £5million move last week and Van Bronckhorst said: "Ridvan is travelling [on Saturday] to Glasgow and he is cleared to play. He had a normal pre-season with Besiktas so he will join the group on Sunday as well."
