Danilo reveals Rangers shining light amid darkness of injury hell as new dad vows to be Jefte father figure

Daddy Danilo revealed how the birth of his new daughter was the “daylight through the darkness” of his injury hell - as he vowed to be a Rangers father figure to fellow Brazilian Jefte.

The Light Blues star was the big summer signing 12 months ago when Michael Beale signed him for around £6 million from Feyenoord but he suffered a season-ending knee injury against Hearts at Tynecastle in December.

Danilo was in the depth of despair after that but revealed how his team-mates helped keep his spirits up before the real uplifting moment in March when he and partner Tess welcomed daughter Naya Rose Pereira da Silva into the world. The 25-year-old admitted that helped him get through the lowest points and he is now back on the training ground as he aims to hit the ground in his second season.

Lifting the lid on his injury hell, he told Rangers TV: “I always try to look on the positive things and when I had my knee (injury), my daughter was almost born and I was like ‘wow’. I didn’t want to be in that situation when she came into the world. I was working really hard for that so when she was born I was really good to take care of her and walk everywhere with her and she was giving me so much strength to get through those hard moments. She’s like the daylight of the darkness.

“The boys in the dressing room are part of the family and in those moments when my head was down a little bit and couldn’t see any progression, even though I had to be patient, the boys were like ‘Hey Danny, you are always a positive guy and always smiling’. So they told me to smile and bring happiness to them so that was really a sweet message the boys gave to me when I wasn’t having a good day or wasn’t in a good place. And now I’m back on the field