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Gareth Fullerton

Rangers legend Graeme Souness offers views on Steven Davis' value at Ibrox

Rangers legend Graeme Souness believes Steven Davis still has plenty to offer at Ibrox.

Davis' future is uncertain after the veteran midfielder sustained a cruciate ligament injury during a training incident last December.

At 38 years of age, time is not on the side of the Northern Ireland captain as he continues his recovery.

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But despite accepting Davis' injury is a "bad one to have" at such a late stage of his career, Souness believes the inspirational midfielder still holds plenty of value to any changing room.

"You can never have enough senior pros in a dressing room," Souness told Belfast Live.

"Steven is still very much in love with football, and you would see that in his time keeping, his attitude to training and football, and his attitude around the place.

Graeme Souness (Getty)

"So in that respect, he will have something to offer Rangers. A solid individual who young players look up to.

"And I am sure the manager at Rangers knows that. That's a bad injury he has got, it is not a great injury to get any time of you career, especially when you are coming to the end of it.

"But you can never have enough senior pros around the place, and Steven is one of those players.

"If you are a young player in the dressing room and thinking 'who do I want to be like in 10 years' time?'. Steven would be your first choice.

"Jonny Evans is another one."

Souness remembers when he noticed his own "legs starting to go" during his career.

It was in the midst of his first year as player/manager at Rangers.

He said: "That first year at Rangers I still felt I had a lot to offer. But because I was living the life of a football manager, rather than a professional football player, I wasn't resting enough and things like that.

"I was travelling around Europe looking at players, dealing with management issues during the week. So I think my influence wained from 34 onwards.

"But I was a fit lad and never had any major injuries. But I started to tail off around 34 or 35, but I think that was because I was doing two jobs at once."

Souness is into his 70th year and still stays active. He swims several times a week and is still involved with Sky Sports as a regular pundit.

"I still look after myself. I have never been a big drinker or anything like that," he added.

"I still do a bit and try to look after myself. I am into my swimming now, and I go three times a week. So I enjoy that now.

"I enjoy the punditry. I was lucky. I played for 20 years, coached for 20 years and now I have been doing punditry for 20 years. I am a lucky boy.

"I enjoy working with Roy (Keane) and the other guys. We have been in the game for a while so I believe we are entitled to an opinion on things."

Graeme Souness was speaking ahead of his 'An Evening With...' event at Belfast's Waterfront Hall on Friday, May 19. The evening will be presented by UTV's Ruth Gorman while Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill will be a special guest. Anyone looking tickets can get them from the Waterfront Hall website HERE. Tickets range from £40 to £150.

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