Wednesday 23 August 2017 08:29, UK
Scotland U21 striker Ryan Hardie will be given the opportunity to prove himself at Rangers, head coach Pedro Caixinha has confirmed.
Hardie has spent much of the last two seasons out on loan at Raith Rovers and St Mirren, but could provide an attacking option for Rangers this season due to the departures of Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner.
An injury to Eduardo Herrera last week led to Hardie's inclusion from Saturday's visit of Hearts where the young striker came on for the last 20 minutes.
Despite being unable to find the back of the net in the goalless draw against the Jambos, Hardie appears to have done enough to convince Caixinha he deserves another chance on the senior stage.
"I met Ryan when we arrived last season later on when he came from the loan process," Caixinha told Rangers TV.
"I was told by our doctor, who likes him a lot, that he was a goalscorer, he is definitely a goalscorer, and when he has a chance he scores.
"Unfortunately he had one-and-a-half chances [on Saturday] and he almost scored, but he didn't score in the game.
"He is an option for us after Martyn left the club, so we have Kenny Miller, we have Alfredo Morelos, we have Eduardo. And Ryan and Zak Rudden can be options for us if a situation like this happens.
"We have no problem at all to place him on the pitch. With 20 minutes of the game left we felt that the team was putting Hearts against the ropes and we were needing more presence in the box. So we changed it.
"We placed Ryan alongside Alfredo, with Kenny also down the left but coming inside to be like the third striker, to have that presence. He had two chances and almost scored one goal.
"Last season we used a lot of players from the youth system and this season we are already using it, so that means of course that we use it if we have the need and we will use it if they have the quality to perform with us.
"It's always important to look at what we have inside the club."
