Brazilian striker Danilo didn’t have much luck in his first season at Rangers.
The club’s marquee signing last summer, the now 25-year-old joined Rangers on a reported £6m deal from then Dutch champions Feyenoord.
The move was the tip of a £21m summer of investment under Michael Beale which let’s just say, didn’t go to plan.
Beale had taken his time to introduce Danilo to the team and perhaps a failure to get the Brazilian firing earlier cost Steven Gerrard’s former Ibrox assistant.
But when Danilo did get into the team injury stuck with the striker first suffering a spirit crushing facial fracture whilst scoring v St Johnstone.
Then suffering a season-ending knee injury against Hearts later in the year, it was a campaign to forget for the Brazilian for a number of reasons.
But with the striker back on the grass and working with the ball at the Rangers Training Centre, there’s not a bluenose around who isn’t willing the forward on this season.
And the Ibrox support aren’t the only ones.
Ex-Ajax youth sends Danilo support
Danilo has been keeping Rangers fans well updated with his progress via social media.
In stark contrast to the social media usage of one of his teammates, the Brazilian striker has only ever garnered support as he’s built his way back to fitness.
It’s been a useful vessel for the striker to express both his frustration & determination over the situation and proves that there is a use for the technology in modern football.
In his latest Instagram post, the Ibrox striker shared a series of snaps as Rangers training got underway last week.
Resulting in an outpouring of support from Rangers fans, the post wasn’t missed by Premier League defender Sven Botman.
The ex-Ajax youth stopper moved to Newcastle United in 2022 from Ligue 1 club Lille in a £34.5m deal but came through the Amsterdam club’s youth ranks alongside the Brazilian.
In a show of support for his former teammate, the defender responded to the post with a red love heart emoji.
Rangers manager makes injury pledge
There’s not a soul around who doesn’t want Danilo to bounce back at Rangers next season.
The Brazilian’s introduction to Scottish football was a harsh one as injuries contributed to a disastrous campaign at Ibrox.
Long-term injuries to Danilo, Abdallah Sima, Kemar Roofe and Oscar Cortes blunted the Rangers attack with this just a fraction of the problems across the squad.
It’s a situation which manager Philippe Clement is determined to remedy this summer.
“Firstly, we are looking to build the physical condition,” Clement told RangersTV. “The team missed that a lot last season.
“They were not prepared to play every three days to a high intensity. Because of that we had a lot of injuries, so that is a big concern now, to train really hard and prepare really well.
“Not only ball exercises and running but a lot of exercises to strengthen their bodies. We are going to work on that.
“ We can say to all the fans that the players are working really hard in the next couple of weeks to be stronger again next season.
“It is going to be very hard training for the players and tough games, but they need to be challenged when they are tired also, to have that mentality and go through that because we will have moments like that in the season.
“That is one side we one to become stronger, the other is we will have individual talks with all the players every evening, together with my staff.
“It creates a bond and I have to say I was very happy in that way about last season. It was a good dressing room where everybody stuck together until the end.
“We need to rebuild in that way also, and get new leadership into the dressing room next to the guys who already showed leadership here.
“Also, to see people evolve in that way who were here last season. And for the new guys it is good to be 24 hours together in the week and really get adapted to the team.”
Danilo made only 21 appearances and 10 starts in his first season at Rangers, scoring six goals and laying on five assists.
