Jamie Murphy has revealed the days of anguish that left him fearing he might never pull on a Rangers jersey again.
The Ibrox winger suffered a devastating injury on Kilmarnock's plastic pitch last August, ruling him out for the remainder of Steven Gerrard's debut campaign in Glasgow.
The 29-year-old's knee buckled in sickening fashion as he tried to change direction on the artificial Rugby Park surface, leaving him facing nine months in the rehab room as he embarked on a long fight for fitness.
The former Motherwell, Sheffield United and Brighton wideman admits the mental turmoil of such a serious cruciate ligament rupture was every bit as painful as the physical scars he had to endure.
Murphy has now confessed there were days when he could not shake the thought that he might never make it back.
Thankfully for the former Scotland international, he overcome the lowest points of his road to recovery and is now determined to make up for lost time after rejoining Gerrard's squad at their summer training camp in the Algarve.
"There was a lot of speaking to friends and family," he told RangersTV. "There were days where you felt like you were never going to play football again, and then there were days where you feel like you can play tomorrow.
"It is about trying to keep a level head and work hard every day to get back to where I am now.
"It has been long and it's the longest amount of time I have ever missed in my career, so it has been tough – but I am just delighted to be back involved and out training with the boys.
"I got great advice at the start. There are peaks and valleys – it's never a straight path and it's never good all the way through.
"There are some down moments and some highs, but I am glad I managed to get there in the end.
"I know I couldn't have done it without the medical team we have here and everyone we have in there has played a part in getting me back to where I am now, so I am really thankful to them."
Murphy's return will hand Gerrard another attacking option on top of the six new players he has added this summer.
Midfielder Ryan Jack believes Rangers will be a stronger proposition for their Europa League qualifying opponents than the side that marched to the group stages last term.
Gers will take on either Kosovo's Prishtina or St Joseph's of Gibraltar in their competition opener early next month and Jack said: "I am optimistic ahead of the new season, we have a great squad of boys and we have kept the core of the team from last season so far, hopefully that continues.
"I think we have added real quality and there could be a couple more to come.
"So I think, no disrespect to last season, but I think the squad we are building is getting stronger and stronger, hopefully come the start of this season that shows.
"The European games come thick and fast and you need to be ready. This camp has been hard work so far but the staff here make it enjoyable as well.
"There are no doubts about how important this period is. Because we are starting pre-season earlier than other teams usually would.
"The calibre of games we will play in Europe will be high, they are tough games and thinking back we played Osijek last year which personally I thought was one of the toughest ties we had in the Europa League.
"It shows you that if you do take the competition lightly and don't put in the extra training and hard graft in pre-season then you could get caught out.
"The coaching staff will cover all bases and I am confident we are ready for when we start again."
