John Souttar hopes 'good' pre-season can lead to success at Rangers

John Souttar believes he will benefit from the rigors of Rangers pre-season training as he prepares to challenge for his place alongside Michael Beale next season.

The revamped Light Blues squad are tested in Germany in preparation for a strong start to next season.

Beale has signed six new players, with more to come, and the Gers defender has told RangersTV he is well placed.

Souttar, whose 2022/23 season was hampered by injury before being involved in Scotland's Euro 2024 qualifying campaign wins over Norway and Georgia, said: " For me, this is the first time in a few years that I will have a good pre-season where I feel fit and 100%.

"It gives you a base for the rest of the season, you guys don't catch up or you don't feel like you're behind, you're right.

"The next week or two will give me a great base to hopefully have an injury-free season, so I'm looking forward to it.

"Everyone is really hungry and when there are so many new boys arriving, everyone automatically has to fight for their shirt.

"That is always the case at Rangers, but even more so now with the amount of quality that has been brought in and I think everyone is aware of that.

"There are only 11 shirts for the first game of the season so everyone will fight for that and it can only be a good thing for the future.

"It has a slightly different feel with new players coming in and I can't wait to see them all in training.

"These few weeks are huge, especially when there are new boys coming in, they get a sense of the club and how everyone gets along - off the pitch is as important as on it.

"Especially in pre-season, getting to know everyone's characters, what they look like and what drives them, so that's good, and everyone's going to enjoy getting away from it all and bonding.

"I think that's what pre-season is for, when you're at home you don't really get that 24/7 with the guys and hopefully that's the basis of it. 'a successful season for us."