RANGERS have received a triple selection boost ahead of the Old Firm clash with Celtic next month.
Boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has confirmed that three of his key men - Leon Balogun, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo - will be eligible to feature at Parkhead before joining up with the Nigeria squad for the African Cup of Nations.
There were fears that all three would miss the Parkhead showdown to prepare for the tournament that will be staged over four weeks in Cameroon from January 9.
Van Bronckhorst said: "They will be here with the team, 100 per cent. For me, it was already clear that we would release them if needed after the Old Firm game.
"So we have the full squad until we go into the winter break."
The loss of Aribo in particular would have been a damaging blow for Rangers given his fine form since Van Bronckhorst's appointment at Ibrox.
The playmaker would miss the Old Firm fixture if he picks up a booking against Dundee United and Van Bronckhorst will carefully consider his team selection.
He said: “You are preparing the game for [Saturday], but you obviously have your plans for the next games if possible, especially if you have players one card from suspension.
“Also physically you have to watch the load for the players. You have to take everything into account.”
Rangers will be without long-term absentees Filip Helander, Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe for the United tie as they bid to extend their lead at the top of the table.
But there is positive news on the fitness of Borna Barisic after he was forced off against St Johnstone in midweek through illness.
Van Bronckhorst said: "He was here today (Friday). He was better than he was during the game. So he’s OK.
"We still have some doubts but we will check them [on Saturday] and we will make decisions on which players to start."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here