DAVID Weir has hinted that Danny Wilson is a potential Rangers captain after persuading his former team-mate to join Rangers for a second spell. Weir, who played alongside Wilson as he took his first steps into the Rangers first team as a 17-year-old back in 2009, has followed his career closely since he left Rangers in July 2010 for Liverpool and is confident the 23-year-old will be a huge asset to the club going forward. The player captained Hearts to Championship success in 2014/15 and Weir feels the leadership qualities can now be of massive benefit to Rangers.

"I think it's a really good signing for the club, it's the profile of the type of player we want," Weir told the club's official website. "He's young, he's Scottish, he knows the league, he's played here before so he ticks a lot of boxes and he was desperate to come which is really important as well. He was keen to come and help us and contribute so that's a big part of it as well. We know Danny well obviously from his previous time here and watched his career. I think he'll be a great asset for the club moving forward.

"I think you forget how young he was when he was playing here the first time and obviously he's gone down south and had various clubs there," he added. "Meeting him in the last few days again you can see he's grown up and he's developed physically and mentally so he's a different lad to what he was, although he's still got a lot of the same characteristics. He's a nice person which helps as well. As I said he does tick a lot of the boxes and that being another one as well, the fact he is vocal, he is a leader and he's a potential captain."

Wilson became the club's youngest-ever player in a Champions League tie against Unirea Urziceni a week after his full debut for the club, when he partnered the 39-year-old Weir in central defence, and he made quite an impression. "I think it [his potential] was quite obvious," Weir told the Rangers website. "He was so composed and he took to what were very difficult games at the time really, really well. He fitted in, he enjoyed it if anything, and he played in some big games at that time, European games and domestic games and games that meant a lot. So it was a lot for the young lad to take on but he took it on really well and enjoyed it and embraced that challenge and made the most of it.”