BRUNO Alves, the Portugal centre half, has fully recovered from the calf injury he picked up against Celtic at Parkhead in December and is ready to return to first team action for Rangers.
And Graeme Murty believes the 36-year-old, who is hoping to play in the Russia 2018 finals during the summer, can be an important player for the Ibrox club in the Ladbrokes Premiership and William Hill Scottish Cup between now and the end of the 2017/18 campaign.
Alves, the former Porto, Zenit St Petersburg, Fenerbahce and Cagliari defender, may not feature in the Premiership match against Hamilton at the SuperSeal Stadium this afternoon after it is being played on an artificial pitch.
However, with important league games against Hearts, Celtic and Kilmarnock at home and St. Johnstone away coming up in the league as well as a cup quarter-final against Falkirk, Murty is pleased he is available again.
David Bates has done well in the heart of the Rangers rearguard, including in the Old Firm match, and Russell Martin, the Scotland internationalist, has also joined on loan from Norwich until the end of the season, since Alves has been out.
However, Murty is keen to have competition for places in every position and believes that the experienced player will help to provide that as Rangers push to finish as high up the Premiership as possible and win the Scottish Cup.
"Bruno could be a big player between and the rest of the season,” he said. “The opportunity is there. We know his characteristics and we will be pushed with a lot of games coming up. We will need big people putting in big performances. It's not just one guy. I want to throw the challenge down to all of them. Bruno has a World Cup to play for."
Meanwhile, Murty, who hopes to do well enough this season to be appointed manager at Ibrox on a long-term basis, he keen for his side to develop a ruthless streak.
“I’ve said to the players that all the nice football in the world and all the chance creation is fine, but sometimes you have to win 1-0 and it has to be horrible, scruffy and nasty,” he said. “You have to show resilience because it’s all about results.
“I want to win. I want to make it impossible for people to ignore me and my team. You do that by winning, and you do that by being maybe steely eyed and a bit nasty. If you add all of those things together and win, then we’ll be complete. All that stuff without winning? What’s the point?”
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