Rangers fans have already been dealt their first blow regarding new signing Aaron Ramsey as the player himself has more or less ruled himself out of their game against Celtic tomorrow.
Ramsey joined Rangers on deadline-day to plenty of fanfare. The Ibrox club have been forced into panic mode as Celtic close in on them at the top of the Premiership.
A win for the Hoops against our Ibrox foes this week will see Ange Postecoglou’s side take top spot. And it didn’t take the media long to start touting that Ramsey could be in line for a debut against Celtic this week [Sky Sports].
But that hardly looks like happening. He hasn’t played a single minute of action since October and has spent much of the period in between injured. And now the player himself has admitted he’s highly unlikely to feature.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Ramsey said: “I’m probably going to be a little bit short for the Old Firm game but hopefully I can get myself ready this week and look forward to getting ready for the weekend, really.
“I’ve had these conversations with the manager and the staff and hopefully we can get a plan in place to get going and back up to match fitness as soon as possible.”
Aaron Ramsey hardly sounds ready to make an immediate impact as Celtic fixture looms
Hilarious. You had so many people throughout yesterday talking up the prospect of Ramsey just storming into the Glasgow derby and making his mark.
Granted, Giovanni van Bronckhorst could still decide to surprise everyone and throw Ramsey in. It’s the kind of thing that would probably whip their fans into a frenzy. Even if he’s on the bench it will be given plenty of spotlight and attention.
But the truth is that if Ramsey plays tomorrow night, he’ll likely put in a shocker. He can’t be anywhere near match-fit. The idea of him rolling up into Celtic Park and dominating the game? Do us a favour, Rangers haven’t signed prime Andrea Pirlo here.
It will be the usual suspects Celtic are up against tomorrow. The likes of Scott Arfield and Glen Kamara, for example, will be central to their plans. And it’ll be down to Celtic to try and combat the energy they will likely bring to the game. Something we’ve struggled with when injury problems have struck in the past against Rangers.
But spare us the idea that Ramsey is going to play some sort of big part. They’ll be lucky if they can get a solid run of games out of him between now and the summer.
Watching this deal absolutely explode in their face is going to be absolutely glorious to see. A win on Wednesday will do just that.
In other news, Stephen Glass explains why Aberdeen have signed Celtic man Adam Montgomery on loan
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