ROSS WILSON has backed Giovanni van Bronckhorst to showcase his winning mentality at Ibrox after being named as Rangers manager.

The Dutchman put pen-to-paper on a deal with the champions on Thursday evening to bring an end to the search for Steven Gerrard's successor.

Van Bronckhorst emerged as Rangers' prime candidate for the position in the days after Gerrard and his staff left Ibrox to move to Aston Villa last week.

He has now returned to the club where he won five major honours during the early stages of his career before he went on to enjoy glories with Arsenal and Barcelona.

Van Bronckhorst already has silverware as a boss under his belt following a successful spell in charge of Feyenoord and sporting director Wilson is pleased to have finally landed his man.

Wilson said: “I am delighted to welcome Gio back to Rangers. He was respected throughout Europe as a player and has already shown why he has that same respect as a coach.

“Gio has already shown himself to be a winner, he knows the club, he knows the quality of the squad and is absolutely aligned with our approach and mindset.

“Outside of the formal discussions, Gio and I have already had numerous other informal conversations and I can see how excited he is. I am looking forward to introducing him to the squad soon.

“Gio has been part of a long list of managers we have been tracking for a period of time to ensure we are always ready.

"When Steven intimated his decision last Wednesday, we immediately got to work on what was then a focused shortlist. We held initial talks within 48 hours and concluded our decision making within six days of the role becoming available.

“We found agreement with Gio extremely quickly and we have enjoyed working with him on assembling the backroom team that will complement an already excellent support staff that we have built here at Rangers.”