JOHN SOUTTAR, the Hearts defender who agreed a pre-contract move to Rangers in January, is suffering from an Achilles injury - according to his team-mate Andy Halliday.

The centre-half had to be subbed off around an hour into his team's 2-2 draw with Dundee United at the weekend, and another four players had to hobble off carrying knocks.

Speaking after the match, Tynecastle manager Robbie Neilson said the injury crisis in the capital is the worst he's seen in over 25 years of being involved in the professional game.

And Halliday has revealed that Souttar has an Achilles complaint when he appeared on the Open Goal podcast.

"It was one of the maddest games of football I have ever seen," Halliday said.

"GMS [Gary Mackay Steven] broke his hand after 10 minutes, Alex Cochrane came on for him and got concussion five minutes later, Cammy Devlin after half an hour tore his hammy [hamstring]."

Host Si Ferry then asked Halliday how Nathaniel Atkinson fared after being subbed off.

Halliday replied: "He was f***** as well. He actually wasn't feeling that well before the game and at half-time he said 'I'm f*****'.

"Big Soapy's [John Souttar] Achilles, we actually made five injury subs before 50 minutes or something - four before half-time."