Rangers have received a significant holiday season uplift with John Souttar resuming training, signaling a potential return to the field by year’s end.

The defender has been absent from action since Rangers’ victory over Dundee on November 9, due to a muscle injury incurred during warm-ups for Scotland’s game against Denmark.

Manager Danny Rohl has faced a shortage in defensive resources throughout December, as Nasser Djiga is on international duty and Derek Cornelius is sidelined with an injury.

“John did well yesterday,” Rohl commented. “He joined part of the session for the first time. We’ll see how he progresses after tomorrow, but it’s a major advancement. I’m uncertain if he’ll be ready for the weekend match against Motherwell, but with the upcoming fixtures, his return is beneficial.”

When questioned if Souttar could be ready for the St Mirren game on December 30, Rohl answered: “Possibly, yes. With matches every three days, we need to assess continuously. The key milestone was his return to training yesterday. He appears fit and in good shape, which is excellent.”

Souttar missed eight games for Rangers after suffering muscle injury on Scotland duty

Souttar is expected to be back in time for the seismic clash with Celtic on January 3

Boss Danny Rohl admits it will be a relief to see the Scotland defender make his comeback

As for Cornelius, he remains out for a longer duration. “It’s a long-term situation,” Rohl noted. “We’re looking at maybe February.”

Rohl’s unbeaten league start as Rangers manager came to an end at Tynecastle last Sunday as Hearts claimed a 2-1 win which extended the gap between the sides to 12 points.

Rangers thought they had taken an early lead when Manny Fernandez won a header which Bojan Miovski helped over the line.

While the lines drawn by VAR ultimately led to the goal being disallowed, many observers were still unconvinced that the forward was offside at the point Fernandez touched the ball.

‘It’s really tight,’ Rohl offered. ‘Sometimes I’m not sure when you stop the action if it’s really exactly on this point or not.

‘The VAR looked at this. I think we will have this in many, many other games, where it’s so tight and you’re not sure if it’s really offside, this is onside.

‘At the end, it was a decision that was unlucky for us, because really at this moment, I look to the opponent bench, in the stadium, they were impressed about our start in the game, how we were organised, how we played this game.

‘We won a lot of second goals, and it felt really good but, at the end, we have another (negative) result.’

Rangers fans will be delighted to see him back in action by the time Old Firm encounter comes around

Rangers will seek to bounce back on Saturday when they face high-flying Mothwerwell at Ibrox.

With Christmas Day falling on a Thursday and no Premiership games on Boxing Day, the head coach is pleased that his players can spend the 25th with their families.

‘Yesterday, my family arrived after a long, long time which is good,’ he explained.

‘In Germany, Christmas is on the 24th, in the evening, not on the 25th. We now train for three days, and then we’ll give the players the 25th off. Then we have the 26th.

‘We still have four training sessions. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we have four training sessions in one week.

‘We’re looking forward to all the games that are coming. I’m used to it, in the last three years, it was the same. Games, games, games. It’s not really Christmas. Yeah, we take these few hours, and then we’re looking forward to the next games.’