Rangers hero confirms son 'ahead of injury scheduled' as Scotland star 'agrees' new contract with Serie A club

Former Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson has confirmed son Lewis has signed a contract extension with Italian side Bologna - and revealed he is “ahead of schedule” in his injury recovery.

The Scotland international was close to agreeing a new deal with the Serie A club as their skipper moved to assure supporters he was committed despite transfer speculation linking him with a move to rivals Juventus. The 25-year-old was dealt a major blow after sustaining a sickening knee injury towards the end of last season which ruled him out of Euro 2024.

Ferguson, who was also voted the league’s best midfielder last term, has proved a revelation in Italy since arriving from Aberdeen for £3 million in 2022. And his dad Derek admitted he was thrilled to watch footage of his son back in training earlier this week.

He also announced on his son’s behalf that he had put pen to paper on an extension. Speaking on this week's episode of the Let Me Be Frank" podcast with former Celtic and Scotland striker Frank McAvennie, Ferguson senior says there are positive signs for an early return to action.

“I got a wee bit of footage of him training the other night, and this has actually surprised me, where he is in his rehab at the moment,” Ferguson said. “When I saw the footage after five and a half months, to see him already at that stage, he’s coming on leaps and bounds.

“If you look at an ACL – and it wasn’t just his ACL, he did his medial as well – it’s somewhere between nine and 12 months. But it’s just when I saw the footage. I’ve watched it numerous times, and I’m looking at it thinking, should he be moving like that at that stage? But it’s totally different from our day.

“I don’t want to get too excited, but inside I am. I’m going over to see him next week for five or six days. So the rehab is going very well, and they’ve just renewed his contract; he’s there until 2029. They are full on the way they have looked after him. The rehab place is right next to where Bologna train.

“The boy who made the tackle ended up in the rehab place after hurting himself. He came over and apologised to Lewis but there was no apology required because it wasn’t intentional – just a split-second thing. It just shows you what can happen in a split second. His foot was planted, wrong moment, wrong time. But it was horrible because of the Euros coming up.”

Ferguson helped Bologna qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 60 years but his dad admits it’s too early to say how much of a part he will be able to play in their historic European campaign.

He said: “It’s been an amazing experience for him and me as well. I’m lucky enough that I can go over as often as I can. He planned this; he knew.  He was always wanting to go abroad and play. There was a few Italian sides interested in him and he chose Bologna.

“Within three or four months, he had started to get a gauge of the language, and now he’s fluent in Italian, which is great when you’re going out for a bite to eat, and he’s ordering for you. But it’s great watching him being interviewed in front of the cameras.”