Rangers manager Michael Beale insists the club have done everything they can for Nnamdi Ofoborh since a heart issue was diagnosed, and can’t be criticised over their treatment of the player.
Ofoborh joined Rangers in the summer of 2021 but has never played for the club after an ECG detected an issue with his heart.
The midfielder has been unable to train fully during his two years at Ibrox and has become an almost forgotten figure since moving from Bournemouth.
Earlier this week the 23-year-old posted a message on Instagram that appeared to be directed at Rangers.
It read: “Silent on the situation so I look like the bad guy. All the mistreatment of the last two years will come out.”
Asked about the message at his regular pre-match news conference, Beale said he was confident that there could be no valid criticism of how Rangers had behaved and expressed sympathy for the player after a difficult and frustrating time on the sidelines.
“It’s a really personal matter, that one,” the Rangers boss said. “Obviously Nnamdi is a boy that we signed originally from Bournemouth and I was here in and around the scouting of signing Nnamdi. He was a player that we were quite excited about.
“He then went to Wycombe and had the problem after doing the medical with Rangers, the problem appeared after that. Since he’s come to Rangers it’s been difficult. He’s never been able to train with the group and he’s never been able to play with the group.
“He’s been away and seen the best cardiologists we could find. He’s seen two and we’re now supporting him to see a third and get a third opinion. It’s fair to say that those opinions have not always been perfect.
“He’s managed to get back into light training but our advice as a club from the specialists is just light training at this moment in time [of a level] that me, you, anybody could do, and nothing more than that.”
Beale said the player’s life had been turned upside down since receiving news that has disrupted a promising career but he said that Rangers had been helping him to get the best treatment.
He revealed that the player had seen the same specialist who treated Christian Eriksen. The Danish midfielder returned to playing at the highest level after suffering cardiac arrest while playing for his country at the Euros.
“Nnamdi is a boy that I’m really close to and I feel his situation,” Beale said. “He’s a young man who has had his whole life turned upside down in the last two years and he’s finding it really difficult, obviously with the feedback that he’s been getting.
“He’s away to see a third specialist now and the club’s been supporting him on that. He’s been away and seen the best people possible. He’s seen the specialist who dealt with Daley Blind and Christian Eriksen as well.
“The club’s been fantastic in support for him the whole way through the two years. It’s just a really difficult situation.
“I’m certainly not an expert on it, I’m just trying to support the young boy through what you can imagine is a really difficult period for him.
“Everything I feel we could have done as a football club, we’ve done. It’s just really frustrating for Nnamdi that he can’t do as much as he would like but that’s us acting on the advice we’re given.
“Sometimes that’s difficult.”
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