OPINION
Steven Gerrard will be sweating over the latest injury blow suffered by new Rangers signing Eros Grezda.
The Scottish Sun are one of many media outlets to report that the big-money summer signing has been sent home from the Albania squad because of the ankle injury that has sidelined him all season.
Rangers shelled out £2million to make Grezda one of their 15 summer signings during what has been a remarkable and well-implemented refurbishment of the team.
Gerrard and his coaching staff would have hoped that the international break would provide the 23-year-old with the platform to build up his match fitness after not kicking a ball in anger since May.
He was pencilled in to play for Albania against Israel on Thursday night in the Nations League opener and then travel to Scotland to face Alex McLeish’s men in the first-ever match between the two nations at Hampden on Monday.
But hopes of a comeback have been dashed and Grezda has now been booked on a flight to return to Ibrox for assessment by the club’s medical staff.
That will be a concern for Rangers as they plan for a brutal schedule in the coming months.
Gerrard sanctioned the seven-figure swoop for Grezda after learning that James Murphy would miss most of the campaign after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The winger has pedigree and some top-level experience, albeit in a relatively minor European league.
Capped six times by Albania, his 37 appearances for Croatian outfit Osijek last season yielded eight goals and three assists, solid if far from eye-poppingly good statistics for a player who is predominantly used at right wing.
There is hope he will challenge the likes of Ryan Kent, Ovie Ejaria and Daniel Candeias for a wide forward role at Ibrox.
But it could be some time before he is ready to do so after he was given his international marching orders today.