Rangers: The faces of John Soutar, Derek Cornelius and Mickey Moore appear, and Youssef El Chermiti is concerned about fitness

Ruhl, who is “hopeful” that centre-back Souttar and on-loan Leeds United winger Moore will feature again before the end of 2025, said he was delighted for the former player and Conor Barron after they helped Scotland reach the World Cup finals, a first since 1998 for the men’s team.

“Billy suffered an injury last week during training, a muscle injury, and he will be out for a long time,” he said of Rice, the Scotland Under-21 player, who underwent surgery.

Defender Dogon Sterling, midfielder Kieran Doyle and winger Rabi Matondo are close to returning after a long spell, while midfielder Findlay Curtis has returned from injury.

The absence of Cornelius and Soutar leaves Nasser Djiga as the only other centre-back regularly selected by Rangers to take on Livingston in the Scottish Premiership, although captain and right-back James Tavernier has filled the centre-back position in the past.

Emmanuel Fernandes has played three times since his summer arrival, scoring once.

“I’ve had some good conversations the last couple of days with some of the other players,” Ruhl said.

“Now it is also an opportunity for progress. It is about solutions and we hope that we will have more good solutions.”