Michael Beale confirms coaching role lined up for Steven Davis at Rangers after season-ending knee injury

Rangers boss Michael Beale has indicated that Steven Davis could be in line for a coaching role at the club when his playing career finally comes to an end as he shared his devastation at losing the ‘irreplaceable’ midfielder.

The Ibrox side announced on Christmas Eve that the Northern Ireland veteran had sustained a serious knee injury and would miss the rest of the season - meaning he could have played his final game for the Light Blues.

Davis, who landed awkwardly on his knee in training, received the results of a scan that confirmed he will not be able to feature for a number of months and with the 37-year-old’s current deal expiring in the summer, it remains to be seen whether he will pull on the Gers shirt again.

A club statement released on social media read: “Rangers can this afternoon confirm that midfielder @StevenDavis8 has suffered an injury to his knee and will miss the remainder of the season. As always Steven has the best wishes of everyone at Ibrox as he embarks upon his recovery.”

Beale has since revealed Davis will undergo an operation in January before holding discussions about his future. He said: “It’s a huge blow for Steven. I was devastated for him. It didn’t look like a good one at the time and we had to let the swelling go down before sending him for a scan and we let him process the results of that.

“I believe in early January he will go and have the knee operated on and then we’ll sit and talk. The Christmas period is a good time for reflection for Steven and his family. As a club, we have a plan for Steven anyway. Moving forward, he’s someone we always wanted to have in and around the club both as a player and helping him in his second career if he chooses to go down that route.

“That was something that was already in discussion from the very first meeting I had with the club because I knew when I was here before that Steven had a lovely way of detaching himself from the game and seeing it as someone overlooking the game, rather than a player that can only see the game from his own eyes.

“So I was very interested to see where he wanted to go later in life. Having come in and seen him in the Bayer Leverkusen game and in the second half of the Hibs game, I thought Steven hadn’t changed in the year I was away. I thought he was still as sharp as ever and playing at the same level, so I was holding that conversation in my back pocket.

“Only Steven Davis will make a decision on his future and what he wants to do next. Knowing Steven, I think he will still want to continue playing. He just gives us something different, he is very assured and calm. You can’t replace a player like him, we will have to replace his slot in the team in different ways.

“It’s a huge loss for me, personally because he’s a player I really trust in terms of what he’s seeing and feeling on the pitch. He’s always someone I liked to speak with regularly. It’s not ideal at a time when we have other injuries as well but to play the number of international games he has shows how fit he has stayed over the years. He’ll take his time but the plan at the moment is for Steven to have that operation with a view to returning.”

Ahead of facing Motherwell on home soil on Wednesday, Beale delivered a positive injury update on the progress of summer signing John Souttar, who hasn’t featured for the club since being forced off against Livingston on the opening day of the Premiership season.

The centre-back remains on course to return from a troublesome Achilles issue next month. Beale stated: “I believe John Souttar’s not a million miles away. We’ll see him by the back end of January, he’s doing great guns, he’s out on the grass now. Not training with the team yet but he’s in a good place so I’m delighted with that.”

Top scorer Antonio Colak and Kemar Roofe are both back in training this week, while goalkeeper Allan McGregor is fully fit after sitting out of last Friday’s match against Ross County. Left-back Borna Barisic is also back in contention after returning from his extended break following the World Cup.