ian1964 10,416 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 AFTER months battling to reach full fitness John Eustace is nearly ready to put pen to paper on a Rangers deal and it will be as a player – Mark Warburton revealed. Eustace, who is 35-years-old, arrived at the club in July and had been working hard with the Rangers’ fitness team to recover from a knee injury. The manager told the media that he expects movement regarding the midfielder signing a contract within the next seven days. Warburton said: “We’ve very close now, I think over the next couple of days we will have some positive news. “It had to be discussed and looked at closely for all parties but I am delighted with what has happened over the last couple of days. “He will be coming in just as a player, that’s what he is, a player, and he is a very experienced individual, knowledgeable and well-liked by the squad and I’ve no doubt that he will add value to us.” Away from Eustace the boss has some decisions to make about his returning international players ahead of Saturday’s game against Queen of the South. Fraser Aird was in Canada, Gedion Zelalem was in the USA competing in the Olympic Games qualifiers for Rio 2016 and Nathan Oduwa travelled to Germany with the England under-20s. After the international break Warburton is keen to get back on a winning streak again, but he stressed he isn’t planning ahead. He said: “Hopefully we will be all good for Saturday; we have to be honest with the young boys coming back. “Fraser Aird arrived at 7am this morning on a transatlantic flight, Gedion did the same yesterday, Nathan has been away and so has Ryan Hardie playing games. “These are young bodies and I am delighted for them to get their international call-ups and they will benefit from the experience but our job is to make sure we look after them and make sure they’re best prepared. “Our only focus now is the weekend and Queen of the South, how good we can be, how best prepared we can be, do we recognise their strengths and we will hopefully expose any weaknesses they may have. “We need to go and get a result and deliver the performance and move on. “There is no point looking three or four weeks down the line if we lose two or three games in between so it has to be about being the best we can on Saturday.” http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/eustace-close-to-becoming-a-player/ 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 He'll hopefully be a good option for the manager to have if he's fit and he signs! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) Away from Eustace the boss has some decisions to make about his returning international players ahead of Saturday’s game against Queen of the South. Fraser Aird was in Canada, Gedion Zelalem was in the USA competing in the Olympic Games qualifiers for Rio 2016 and Nathan Oduwa travelled to Germany with the England under-20s. After the international break Warburton is keen to get back on a winning streak again, but he stressed he isn’t planning ahead. He said: “Hopefully we will be all good for Saturday; we have to be honest with the young boys coming back. “Fraser Aird arrived at 7am this morning on a transatlantic flight, Gedion did the same yesterday, Nathan has been away and so has Ryan Hardie playing games. “These are young bodies and I am delighted for them to get their international call-ups and they will benefit from the experience but our job is to make sure we look after them and make sure they’re best prepared. Some food for thought for pete's match preview!? Edited October 15, 2015 by Zappa 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 He hasn't played for almost a year since picking up "a serious knee cartilage injury against Ipswich Town in a 1–0 victory on 10 January 2015" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eustace It's taken him 3 months to get fit, his knee must be a doubt and he's 36 on 3 November. Zelalem is going to keep Shiels and Law out of the team, so whose place is he going to take: Halliday or Holt? We are going to win this League in a canter and at 36/37 is he really what we should be looking for in terms of a return to the SPL? This whole thing smells to me. His agents are Key Sports Management, the same company that represents Kiernan, Tavernier, Waghorn and Warburton himself. You don't need to be a genius to add up whats going on. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 I hadn't forgotten I was busy gathering info. Between late tonight and tomorrow 12pm. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEARGER 1,829 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Looks like Eustace will be signing after all, some (including me) were thinking it would never happen. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 This whole thing smells to me. His agents are Key Sports Management, the same company that represents Kiernan, Tavernier, Waghorn and Warburton himself. You don't need to be a genius to add up whats going on. I think you're getting well and truly carried away with the sniff sniff stuff because not only are KSM obviously a respectable company, but it's not exactly as if we've been stitched up with the quality of players the manager's acquired, is it? They apparently represent Zelalem as well btw, but they represent Theo Walcott and a bunch of other Arsenal players too. Should Arsenal fans be worried about it? What about Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and the other EPL clubs whose players they represent? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 I hadn't forgotten I was busy gathering info. Between late tonight and tomorrow 12pm. Cheers mate. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aweebluesoandso 290 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Manager shows loyalty to player shocker. Loyalty is a two way street imo. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 I think you're getting well and truly carried away with the sniff sniff stuff because not only are KSM obviously a respectable company, but it's not exactly as if we've been stitched up with the quality of players the manager's acquired, is it? They apparently represent Zelalem as well btw, but they represent Theo Walcott and a bunch of other Arsenal players too. Should Arsenal fans be worried about it? What about Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and the other EPL clubs whose players they represent? Yes, I forgot Zelalem; but you're surely not comparing Kiernan, Tavernier, Waghorn with Walcott, Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones etc? The players we have acquired are doing very well for us at the level we are contesting at present but I'm told we only got them because KSM had a player that Wigan wanted. It would be naive to think that Warburton suddenly identified them all as hidden gems. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Eustace was part of the "deal". I know we have talked about the need for a defensive midfield player but does anyone seriously think that the team we have now isn't going to win the League? If the answer to that is "No", then why take a chance on a 36 year old who's been out the game for nine months with a serious knee injury? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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