Mark Warburton will have £50,000-a-week in wages of midfield talent watching from the sdelines at Hampden on Sunday as his two-in-a-row heroes face Celtic in the semi-final of the BetFred Cup.
Joey Barton remains on a club suspension for an undisclosed breach of discipline with Niko Kranjcar now missing from Warbo’s plans.
The 32-year-old former Tottenham creator was injured during training at the state-of-the-art Murray Park training complex with some reports fearing that his season could be over.
Kranjcar has had a nightmare start to the season but after two decent performances against Partick Thistle and Inverness Caley Thistle he is now considered critical to Warbo’s tactics.
According to The Sun this morning: “Rangers midfielder Kranjcar was involved in a freak training ground accident on Tuesday.
“Concerned medics rushed to Kranjcar’s aid after he collapsed in agony on the pitch. After receiving treatment the 32-year-old was stretchered off with suspected ligament damage.
“But there are fears he may have damaged his cruciate, which would lead to a long lay-off for the Croat star.
“Kranjcar must now wait for the swelling to go down before he can be assessed. He is expected to undergo scans in the next few days which will reveal the full extent of the problem.
“But a cruciate injury would see him sidelined for at least six months and effectively rule him out for the rest of the campaign.”
Kranjcar was one of eleven signings made by Mark Warburton during the summer as he took full advantage of Dave King’s over-investment plan.
Signed after being freed by lowly American outfit New York Cosmos the pace of the Scottish game knocked the Croatian out of his stride.
Only the generosity of Willie Collum kept Kranjcar on the park for 45 minutes during the 5-1 hammering from Celtic in September with Warbo sending on Andy Halliday at half-time as his replacement.
CLICK HERE for Lee Wallace’s madcap Champions League wish
CLICK HERE for how Brown finished off Barton
CLICK HERE for Griifiths plea to Rodgers.
