Thelo Aasgard hopes strong season at Rangers can propel him to the World Cup

Rangers summer signing Thelo Aasgard hopes to thrive in his first season at Ibrox, and cap it with a place at the World Cup with Norway.

Aasgaard made the move to Glasgow last month after an impressive second half of the season with Luton Town. The former Liverpool academy player made his name at Wigan Athletic and his club career has been matched with progress through the age groups for Norway.

That hard work culminated with a dream international debut in March, scoring and setting a goal up in Norway’s 5-0 World Cup qualifier in Moldova.

The 23-year-old admits that it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream.

“Little moments like [that debut] you manifest throughout your career, so for it to be reality is just fantastic,” Aasgaard told STV.

His international career may be in its infancy but he’s a man in a hurry, wanting to establish himself as a man Norway need if they reach the World Cup in North America next year.

He believes Rangers can give him the platform to earn more caps and stake his claim for a place alongside Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and others.

“I think so,” he said. “A big goal of mine is to play in the World Cup next year.

“So I want to show the manager that I want to fight for my place.

“I think playing European football helps. Playing in the top division in the country helps. Hopefully, I can get a few caps.

“The World Cup’s a massive goal and always has been since I was a kid.”

The best way to achieve that goal is to be a success with Rangers as the Ibrox club look for domestic success and to enjoy continental football, starting with this week’s Champions League play-off against Club Brugge. Rangers head coach Russell Martin has already spelled out what he wants to do, and now a “frustrating” injury has cleared up, Aasgaard is ready to kick on.

“[Martin told me] how he thinks show my qualities on the page, use my physique. Use my technical ability.

“He wants me to be part of the build-up phase, get some goals and get some assists. So I’ll just be looking at doing that and settling in as quickly as I can.

“It was frustrating because I went last season injury-free, and it was a really good feeling at the end of the season knowing I had done all the right things to stay injury-free.

“Then this preseason, there were a few days when I was leaving Luton, where I wasn’t really training, and there was a little bit of uncertainty around what I was doing.

“It was really frustrating, and it’s not nice watching from the stands.”

Now he’s back in action. Aasgaard is looking ahead to what he thinks can be a good year.

“I hope to achieve big things given the stature of the club,” he says. “The support we get from the fans gives us a massive boost.

“The team is starting to gel together, certainly inside the training ground.

“I don’t like putting limits on what we can achieve, but I’m really excited for this season.”