The old cliche ‘feels like a new signing’ might be delivered as a compliment but it’s one that 99 per cent of players would gladly avoid like a pub league tackle.
Put simply it’s an expression which only ever accompanies a return from a lengthy, and often serious, absence through injury.
Case in point: John Souttar last summer at Hearts.
After fighting back from a demoralising third Achilles injury which had sidelined him for 14 months the defender finally enjoyed an - almost - trouble free campaign to prove he was still one of the best defenders in the country.
Robbie Neilson said it himself early on in the season. Souttar was back to his best and felt like a new signing.
The defender’s form soon saw him back in the Scotland squad and on his way to Rangers.
Which is where the 25-year-old’s story can now act as a source of inspiration to a player who might very well find himself right up against Souttar for a spot in Gio van Bronckhorst ’s defence next season.
Nikola Katic. The forgotten man of Ibrox and perhaps the only man in the dressing room who never felt invincible during Rangers’ unbeaten run to the Premiership title a year ago.
The Croat appeared to be at the peak of his powers in the weeks before the Covid crisis brought the world to a halt in March 2020.
A winning goal in the New Year Old Firm derby at Parkhead had elevated the young central defender onto a new level of adoration from the Ibrox faithful.
Then just as the Scottish game was preparing for its return, and Rangers were limbering up for their first title in a decade, Katic was struck down with a freak training ground injury that left him nursing a cruciate rupture which would take a year to repair.
Harsh doesn’t start to describe it.
But just as covid combined with a cruciate injury can throw a career into a nosedive, so a change of manager can quickly drag it back from the depths.
Katic hasn’t featured in a top team game for Rangers since March 2020.
However a spell back in his homeland with Hajduk Split, whom he helped to a second-placed finish in the Croatian league with 21 appearances, has brought a sense of confidence that his troubles could be in the past.
Word is Katic will return to Rangers this summer with Split deciding against an option to buy the defender.
Which leaves him with a year on his Ibrox contract and a new boss to impress.
With Connor Goldson looking likely to have played his last game in light blue then it’s surely a no brainer for Gio van Bronckhorst to take a forensic look at Katic’s qualities this summer.
Actually, it would be a dereliction of duty NOT to give the Croat every chance to prove his worth.
Before injury struck the 6ft 4in stopper was proving to be one of the strongest defenders in the air in Scotland, a body-on-the-line type who might not have had Goldson’s, or for that matter Souttar’s, range of passing but was a solid presence in both boxes,
Given the improvement in Calvin Bassey’s game under van Bronckhorst who’s to say Katic can’t similarly reach the next level if given the chance.
He’s still only 25 - a month younger than Souttar - and if he needs any inspiration that his best years still lie ahead of him then who better than Souttar?
One is a new signing. The other might just feel like it.
But together they could solve a Connor Goldson sized problem without having to make a dent in the summer transfer kitty.
