NIKO KRANJCAR is confident he will fit into Mark Warburton’s Rangers blueprint when he is able to return to action in the coming weeks.

The Croatian joined the Gers at their South Carolina training base over the last fortnight but didn’t take part in the 2-1 win over Charleston Battery.

Boss Warburton is pleased with the progress Kranjcar is making as he recovers from a thigh strain he picked up whilst with the New York Cosmos.

And the 31-year-old can’t wait to get back playing as the countdown continues to the new campaign.

He told rangers.co.uk: “It’s the way I personally believe football should be played – playing out from the back, passing the ball through the lines, being brave on the ball and getting into areas where you believe with your quality you are going to keep hold of it.

“So I was really impressed and I really hope I can help the team improve with the qualities I have. At this point, I would just love to be involved.

“You miss the ball when you have been injured and it has been great for me to join in full training.

“It’s been a great time though. It’s been a lot of hard work in really extreme conditions, and the heat and humidity was really unbearable at times, but we got everything we had to do done, and hopefully, and I believe, we will benefit from it.

“The main thing for me is I don’t feel any pain in the quad muscle. That has fully healed and I am really comfortable joining in the full sessions.

“It will still be a couple of weeks before I am back to being fully match fit, but it is a joy and a thrill that I can do every exercise with the rest of the squad and it’s been a great 10 days for me.

“It’s a great bunch of guys who really push each other to do better in every single exercise. It’s a great environment to play football in and I have really enjoyed my time here since I have come in.”