Rangers coach Michael Beale has said that Gareth McAuley will make a big impact in the first-team under Steven Gerrard this season.
McAuley signed for Rangers on September 3 after his contract at West Brom expired, but he’s yet to make a senior appearance.
Talking in the Belfast Telegraph Beale said, “Gareth is doing very well. He came to us after being unattached so he was doing some fitness on his own. Everyone knows he is an outstanding professional and I’m really pleased we have Gareth on board.
“He had a slight injury from international duty so that put him back a few weeks, but now he has played a couple of reserve games and there is another one this weekend, and from there I expect Gareth to be someone who has a big impact in our team moving forward.”
OPINION
We’d almost forgotten that Gareth McAuley played for Rangers but it sounds like he’s closing in on a return to full fitness, and coach Michael Beale thinks that he is going to make a big impact in Steven Gerrard’s side. There’s no doubt that it would be good to have his experience available to call on at the back, but at 38-years-old, McAuley will probably want to avoid big impacts of any sort. His contract expired at West Brom over the summer and he’s been working his way back to fitness ever since. Gerrard is still having issues at the heart of his defence. Nikola Katic and Connr Goldson seemed like they were building up a solid partnership only for Katic to be dropped for Joe Worrall, the Nottingham Forest loanee. He’s been criticised for the past few games though by fans and McAuley might well get a chance sooner rather than later to prove that he’s still got what it takes to play at the top level.