Out of favour Nikola Katic has admitted he can't guarantee he will be a Rangers player next season – but he insists he has the quality needed to make it at Ibrox.
The towering Croat spent last season on loan at Hajduk Split after more than a year on the sidelines with injury as he ramped up his return to full fitness. The defender has been given a chance to impress Gio van Bronckhorst in pre-season having previously been a first-team regular under Steven Gerrard, but has been used sparing in the friendly clashes.
The centre-back appears to be well down the pecking order following the arrival of John Souttar and Ben Davies this summer. Souttar started alongside Connor Goldson in the friendly clash with Tottenham on Saturday, before Ben Davies made his Rangers debut alongside Leon King started against Queen's Park in the the warm-up fixture 24 hours later.
Speculation has ramped up over the towering stopper’s future as last season's Europa League finalists look to cut down the squad size, with the likes of Katic, Jack Simpson and Glenn Middleton being told they can leave. Katic admits he doesn't know if he has a long-term future in Govan ahead of the new Scottish Premiership campaign.
He told Sportske novosti : "I have a contract, I played some matches during the preparations, some I didn't. There are a lot of us, there is strong competition, but as everywhere, the struggle is day by day.
"I think I have the quality to play for Rangers, but of course it all depends on the coach, we'll see. That's all I can say, I can't say whether I'll stay at Rangers or not, whether I'll sign a new contract or not.
"But I definitely believe in my qualities. I had a difficult two years, I missed the first one due to an injury, last season after a year of not playing I was on loan in Hajduk, it was not easy to play after the injury. Now I finally have that real feeling back and I'm in a good position."
Katic was then quizzed on if there was a chance he could have stayed with Hajduk, but said the club were priced out of a move. The defender went on: "There was a compensation clause, I think it was 1.5 million euros.
"That's too much for Hajduk at the moment, so we didn't even get to talking about it. And Van Bronckhorst wanted all players to return from loan.
"By the way, at the beginning of the preparations I was in Split, I said goodbye to my teammates, the coach, the sports director, the president – everything went great. I really had a great time in Hajduk."
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