PEDRO Caixinha heaped praise on Kenny Miller yesterday, heightening speculation that agreement on a new deal for the veteran striker is close at hand.
The 37-year-old, who was named Players' Player of the year at the club in a glitzy ceremony on Sunday night, has made no secret of his desire to stay on at Ibrox and the wheels are finally thought to be in motion. While he was unable to add to his nine goals in 18 Old Firm appearances for Rangers at the national stadium on Sunday, he came closer than any other play on the day, and another chance will present itself at Ibrox tomorrow.
“He [Miller] trained great this week and he is a fantastic professional," said Caixinha. "He is a good player and a good person. Player of the year, by the way. I’m very happy with the players we have, but we are still analysing the players on a daily basis and will continue to do that until the 21st of May.”
Myles Beerman, the club's teenage left back, made his Old Firm debut at Hampden on Sunday and is likely to continue, with the news that Lee Hodson had joined Lee Wallace on the sidelines with injury. The Northern Ireland full back has done better than most at blunting the thrusts of Scott Sinclair this season, but he is thought to have sustained an injury on the training ground while Wallace is still a few weeks short of his return from a Hernia problem.
"Lee needs a little more time," said Caixinha, "but we hope he can be able to play the last three matches."
One man already looking forward to the club's reported early return to pre-season training on June 1 is Niko Kranjcar. The 32-year-old Croat is back training with the first team squad at Murray Park after a cruciate ligament injury but will not return until the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
"He is a fantastic player," said Caixinha. "He’s just starting with us, two weeks training with the team, one day with the physio. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can see if he can train on a daily basis with all the squad, so that when we begin the pre-season he can do everything like all the rest."
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