RANGERS boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has revealed that Filip Helander is close to a return to action.

The Swedish defender has been out injured since September after being stretchered off versus St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

He has been back in training as of recent times. 

And van Bronckhorst is hopeful the centre-back could feature this weekend versus Annan in the Scottish Cup.

The manager also revealed that Aaron Ramsey is not quite ready to start a game yet.

He told the media: "We have a strong squad, I'm really happy to have the luxury of a strong squad to select from. You want a settled team but you will also always have a need to rotate.

"Ramsey is not quite ready to start yet. You can see his quality in training and in his early minutes.

"He is improving every day and it is great to see the improvements in only a week.

"Helander is really close to start getting minutes again. Hopefully, we can get him involved at the weekend."