John Souttar’s contract talks on hold amid uncertainty at Rangers

John Souttar has put his future on hold amid impending ownership change at Rangers.

The 28-year-old Scotland defender, who joined the Ibrox club from Hearts in 2022, is out of contract at the end of next season.

Rangers are in the midst of a takeover involving US-based 49ers Enterprises, the investment wing of the San Francisco 49ers NFL franchise.

There is also uncertainty around the management situation at the Govan club with former captain Barry Ferguson in charge until the summer after taking over from Philippe Clement in February.

Rangers have lost key players such as Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent for nothing after they were allowed to run down their contracts and there is a desire at the Govan club to prevent that happening again.

Ahead of the William Hill Premiership game against Hibernian at Ibrox on Saturday, Souttar was asked about his contract situation and said: “To be honest, I’ve not spoken about that for a while.

“There has been loads of changes at the club so that situation has gone on the back-burner.

“I’ve not spoken to anyone about it for a while.

“I’m just concentrating on my football and let others deal with what they have to deal with. Hopefully it then gets resolved.

“There is so much going on at the club just now. I’m sure that when there is some stability that’ll get sorted.”

Rangers go into the game on the back of a thrilling 4-3 win at Dundee last Saturday which followed a stunning 3-2 victory at Celtic Park and a nerve-jangling penalty shoot-out win over Turkish side Fenerbahce in the Europa League.

However, on Tayside, it was the fifth time in seven matches that the Light Blues have conceded the first two goals in a match – four in the last six under Ferguson – and Souttar admits the Ibrox side have to tighten up.

He said: “A lot needs to improve from how we started the game against Dundee, conceding the goals we did.

“Obviously it’s good that we came back and scored the goals. But we shouldn’t need to score four goals to win a game.

“It’s something we’ve been looking at and something we need to improve.

“That’s something we simply cannot allow to happen, whether we’re at home or away.

“We can’t give teams the kind of start we gave Dundee. A lot of the mistakes were basic errors.

“That’s something we need to eradicate from our game. We just can’t let the opposition score two goals early on as that gives us a mountain to climb.”

After the Hibernian match, Rangers return to the Europa League where they host Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their quarter-final tie at Ibrox.

Souttar, suspended for the first game, said: “Everyone is feeling positive. I think we’ve had a good few weeks.

“On the back of the European win we’ve won the Old Firm game and beaten Dundee.

“But there is also that underlying thing that nobody wants to give up chances like we did last weekend.

“We shouldn’t have to do as much as we did to win a game. That’s something we’ve looked at this week and everyone is on it for the weekend.”