Former Rangers defender John Brown is “excited” by the arrival of Bruno Alves at Ibrox.
The 55-year-old insists that the Portugal international will play a vital role in Pedro Caixinha’s squad in the upcoming domestic season as his past experience of playing with teams like Porto, Zenit and Fenerbahce will see him demand an enormous amount of respect.
Alves is just one of nine new recruits at Ibrox this summer, as Caixinha has not been afraid to stamp his own authority on his squad after a poor return to the Scottish Premiership last season.
The Portugal international, who has recently been at the Confederations Cup in Russia, was the first of the new signings and was followed by Alfredo Morelos, Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio, Daniel Candeias, Ryan Jack, Eduardo Herrera, Carlos Pena and Graham Dorrans in signing for the Light Blues.
However out of all of them, Brown has been most impressed by Alves and expects him to be a real leader in the Gers back-line.
“When all the signings were coming in, Alves was the one who excited me most – because he’ll have the instant respect of the dressing room,” said the former Dundee and Rangers man, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“He should be a great signing, just like big Davie [Weir] 10 years ago. Having him in there will definitely help Pedro and his defence.
“I expect Alves to be vocal on the park and that will be crucial, whether it’s talking to the boys around him or giving instructions to his midfield.”
Alves has not made his debut for the Light Blues yet, despite Caixinha’s men already playing two competitive fixtures in the Europa League as they suffered a humiliating 2-1 aggregate defeat to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn.
The Euro 2016 winner is still on his post-season break after representing Portugal at the Confederations Cup, where his side managed to reach the semi-finals before losing to Chile in a penalty shoot-out.