Robbie Neilson revealed John Souttar is ready to play his part at Ibrox just four months before he is set to join Rangers.
And the Hearts boss told how the Scotland stopper didn’t want to move to the Scottish Premiership champions “on the cheap”.
The Tynecastle club kicked out a deadline day bid of around £400,000 for the 25-year-old to make the move to the Light Blues for the second half of the season.
That means Rangers have to wait until the summer for the player to join up after he penned a pre-contract.
Souttar has been struggling with injury but Neilson expects him to return to training on Saturday and is in line to feature when his current side and future club clash at Ibrox.
Neilson told Sky Sports: “John should be available for selection. He hasn’t trained but we expect him back tomorrow and if he gets through that he’ll be fine.
“I’ll be more than happy to play him He’s one of our best players and one of the reasons we fought so hard to keep him here until the summer.
“He’s so important to us and if he’s ready he’ll play. John has been 100 per cent professional right the way through.
“He was very strong with us as well and didn’t want to go on the cheap and wanted us to get what we deserved.
“We didn’t get that offer so we made the decision to keep him and he’s more than happy to do that for us.
“He’s a great professional, great kid, and he’s proven that with the injuries he’s come back from - many wouldn’t come back from one and he’s come back from three. I’ve great belief that if we put him he’ll take it in his stride.”
Neilson wants to eat into the 13-gap to Rangers who sit in second place in the table and can take belief from their 1-1 draw at Ibrox back in October.
He said: “We’ve got to go with belief we can get points when we go through to Glasgow. We got a point the last time - can we take the next step and get three points?
“It will be very difficult but we have to believe.When you come up from the Championship you’re never really sure where you’re going to be.
“We had a good season last season but coming into the top flight is a different story so we’re pleased with where we are the moment but there’s still a lot of hard work to be done and we want to try and secure that third spot and get as close as we can to the Old Firm.”
