Michael O’Halloran has revealed that he’s looking forward to clear-the-air talks with Graeme Murty after arriving at Rangers’ winter training camp in Florida.
The wide attacker spent the first half of the season out on loan at St Johnstone after being frozen out by ex-manager Pedro Caixinha, who slammed him as “not my kind of player” and insisted he had no future at the club.
Murty is keen to have a close look at O’Halloran in the United States and he will get a chance to stake a claim for a first team spot in the friendlies against Atletico Mineiro a week tomorrow and Corinthians the following day.
Talking to RangersTV from the Florida camp, O’Halloran is convinced he can re-produce the form of his spell at St Johnstone, where he netted five goals in his first six matches, if he is given an extended run of matches by his parent club.
“For me at the time, I had to go out and get games because I wasn’t playing here. I knew that I was going somewhere where I was going to play and that I felt comfortable,” O’Halloran said of his loan at McDiarmaid Park.
“Obviously he’s (Graeme Murty) welcomed me back which is nice, but I’d imagine at some point he will sit down with me to speak and tell me what his plans are and where he maybe sees me playing, which is good.
“I’m looking forward to getting that chat with him.
“So hopefully this time I can come and work hard and show the manager what I can do and get into the team and play as regularly as I can.”
OPINION
O’Halloran did little in his first Rangers spell to suggest he can provide the team with the cutting edge they need, but ex-Ibrox striker Derek Johnstone is among those who believe the £500,000 signing should be a major asset as “his pace could be a potent weapon if it is harnessed properly”. O’Halloran was signed by Mark Warburton in 2016 but has never had an extended run in the team and, after falling out with the uncompromising Pedro Caixinha following a no-show for an Under-20s game it looked like his Rangers career was over. He has got an unexpected second chance to prove himself at one of Britain’s biggest clubs. It is up to him to take it.