Rangers journalists have lamented a big blow for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side after Tom Lawrence was ruled out until after the World Cup. 

The lowdown

Lawrence joined Rangers in the summer on a free transfer from Derby County and featured in all of their matches, both domestically and in Europe, prior to his injury.

The midfielder hurt himself against Ross County but was on course to return before sustaining a new issue.

And now Giovanni van Bronckhorst says Lawrence won't play for Rangers again until late December at the earliest, with the Welshman set to watch on from the sidelines as his country compete in Qatar.

The latest

Jordan Campbell of The Athletic, Raman Bhardwaj of STV and Joshua Barrie of The Rangers Review all agreed that he would be a significant loss.

Writing on Twitter, Campbell called it a 'big blow', Bhardwaj 'a major blow', and Barrie 'bad news for Rangers'.

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The verdict

Lawrence had started his Rangers career in fine fettle, and so this will sting on an individual and collective level.

He scored two goals and provided two assists in his first five Scottish Premiership appearances and also netted a crucial goal in the Champions League qualifying play-off first leg against PSV Eindhoven (via Transfermarkt).

No Gers player has averaged more shots per game in the SPFL than Lawrence (3.4), and he also ranks fourth for key passes (1.8).

With Rangers facing a congested schedule in the run-up to Qatar, Van Bronckhorst may fear that his squad will become stretched.