Rangers have been dealt a "massive blow" in Tom Lawrence picking up a serious injury, according to insider Dean Jones.

The £27,000 per-week star hasn't played since August and has been ruled out of action until after the World Cup.

What happened to Lawrence?

Lawrence enjoyed a fine start to life at Ibrox following his free transfer move from Derby in the summer window.

The Wales international featured in the Glasgow giants' first nine competitive games this season, playing a key role in the club qualifying for the Champions League.

GiveMeSport Transfer Verdict

GiveMeSport Transfer Verdict

But Lawrence hasn't played since the victory over Ross County back in August after suffering a knock to his knee.

Lawrence did recently return to training, but Gers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst revealed that he suffered a fresh blow and could now be out of action until after the World Cup.

He said: "His recovery went on schedule, but Tom sustained a new injury unfortunately this week. We have to wait (to see) how long he will be out, but I think it is going to be longer term.

"We are still diagnosing his injury, but I don’t think we will have him back before the World Cup."

What did Jones say about Lawrence?

He told GIVEMESPORT: "It's a massive blow and for Rangers fans they must be sick of injury news at this point. It seems to really have come out of the blue, which is probably most disappointing of all."

How big of a blow is losing Lawrence?

Rangers have struggled in Lawrence's absence, winning just three of their seven games since he was last in action, losing four times in that period.

Their form dipping isn't exactly a great surprise considering the impact he made when he was in the team.

In his nine appearances for Rangers, Lawrence registered three goals, one of which a key strike in the Champions League play-off against PSV, and two assists.

Lawrence's injury means that he'll end up missing Rangers' entire group stage campaign and might have even played his final continental game this season, with the Ibrox club heading for a bottom place finish in their group, which would end their hopes of pre-Christmas European football.

For Rangers to have any chance of staying alive in the group, they must realistically beat Liverpool next week, which looks a tall order considering how the first game at Anfield panned out.