DECLAN John has admitted he is hopeful his childhood hero Ryan Giggs will recognise his impressive form for Rangers this season - by handing him a Wales recall next month.

John, who won two caps for his country after breaking into the Cardiff City first team five years ago, has been performing superbly for the Ibrox club in recent weeks.

He was delighted when Giggs was named as Chris Coleman’s successor last month and is optimistic the former winger names him in his squad for a friendly against China.

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"I'm hoping to get a recall soon,” he said. “I'll just hope to keep playing well and hopefully the manager gives me a chance.

“I don't know him, but obviously I've seen him play. I supported United as a kid. Watching him play, I'd try to copy him in certain ways, try to get the ball like him and go past three or four players at a time. That was something I wanted to do.

"For a person who played until he was 40 and had the career he had at United is incredible. I was excited by the appointment. For Wales to have someone like him coming in is good for us.”

Lee Wallace, the Rangers left back and captain, returning to fitness could be bad for John as it might see him drop out of the Graeme Murty’s side.

The player, though, is pleased to see the defender, who has been sidelined since September with a groin injury, back in training and stressed he could be utilised in other positions to accommodate his team mate.

“I hope I’ve shown over the last few months what I can do on the pitch,” he said. “Some of the things I bring to the team have helped us at certain times and I’m just hoping to stay in the team now, all the way through.

“Lee has been a big help to me. Since the first day I came in, he as the first person I spoke to and he showed me around the training ground. It’s a big boost he’s back and I’m really happy for him to be back training. We’ll have to see where it goes.

“But I started off further up the park as a kid and until I was around 17, 18 years of age. The only reason I dropped into left back at that point was because the manager (then Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay) had nobody else to play left back.

“I think I could play on the wing, whether that is the left side or the right side, and I used to play in the hole as well. I think I can play a few positions on the pitch.

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“I think the first few games I played in I didn’t really know the position that well because I was an attack-minded winger. I got chucked in at the deep end, I would say, in the first couple of games. But you get used to it.

“Obviously, I know now in my game that I have got a lot to work on defensively. I have been working once or twice a week on defending after the boys have finished training. I can only hope to get better.

“If you look at the football a lot of teams play today, it is almost like the full back is a winger because they start so high up the pitch and you have two wingers up the pitch.

“The way we play, it does suit me because I can also get forward. Hopefully I can stay in the team now and show the fans what I can do.”

John played for Rangers in the 5-3 win over Hamilton last weekend – a result that moved them to within nine points of Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

Yet, the 22-year-old knows they will have to improve their form at home – where they have lost to Celtic, Hibs twice, Hamilton and St. Johnstone – if they are to challenge for their first Scottish title in seven years.

"We can't get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We've games coming up, but we can only look at the next game. When you look at the points, we're not that far away.

"If you look at the home games, winning six out of 13 isn't good enough when you consider the support we get from the fans. That's something we have to look at because you want to be winning all your games at home.

"At times, yeah. The fans want you to start quick and that's what we want. In some games we've been left open at home and away and that's something we have to sort out before the end of the season.

"A lot of the teams know we're good at going forward and they'll sit in and work off what we've lost. It leaves us open at times. A lot of teams set up to do that - go forward when we've six or seven players high up the pitch. But we have to learn to deal with that.”