MIchael Beale has suffered another body blow over two key Rangers stars.
The Ibrox boss has revealed that the misfortune of summer signing Tom Lawrence is continuing as the midfielder WON'T play again this season while luckless striker Kemar Roofe is also facing more time off on the sidelines.
Lawrence has had to have surgery to try to cure a knee issue that has wrecked his Rangers career so far while Roofe needs another opinion on his persistent calf problem. It comes as John Souttar and Rabbi Matondo are back in the squad for Saturday's clash with Kimarnock with Ridvan Yilmaz earmarked for the Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers on March 11.
Lawrence made a really positive start after his summer switch from Derby and scored three times in August, including a crucial strike against PSV Eindhoven that set up Rangers' qualification to the Champions League.
Beale said: “Tom Lawrence has had another operation and won’t be available until the back end of pre-season. Kemar tried to train on Saturday but it was no good. Unfortunately with Kemar he’s going through a tough time at the moment and he will be away to see someone as we need to get to the end of this.
“He has a problem with his calf but there are one or two other things that could be leading to that that have been nagging.
“Me and him have had a real heart to heart. He’s a boy that I’m really close to. I want to see him get some light at the end of the tunnel so we’re going to get some advice on that. With Tom Lawrence he was back our training in isolation, had some real discomfort when he was running. They had a look and they had to do a procedure so he won’t be back until the back end of pre-season.”
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