Rangers head coach Danny Röhl believes it is important for the future of the club that they have a core group of leaders like John Souttar.
The Scotland international is out of contract at the end of this season, but the Ibrox boss confirmed talks are ongoing over a new deal.
When asked about his future in August, Souttar said, "I love this place, I love this club, I love being here. I've not heard much recently - all I can do is train hard every day."
However, with new terms offered, Röhl hopes the 29-year-old is a key part of his squad going forward.
"The good thing as a head coach is that you have a lot of people around who can sort the contract situations," he said.
"Since I have been here, John has been one of the core members of the team. He has helped us. He has experience in this league, he knows what it means to play for Rangers.
"It is important in the future that we have a core of the group who are leaders that have experience. You can build young, exciting players around them. The full group is important so let's see what direction it goes."
"There is a signal from our side," he added, referring to Souttar's future. "Hopefully, he comes back [from injury] soon because we know the situation with the centre-backs at the moment - especially when Nasser [Djiga] leaves as well [for AFCON]. Hopefully, we can bring Dujon [Sterling] back for some minutes."
Souttar joined Rangers in the summer of 2022 from Hearts, having previously spent three years at Dundee United and has made 117 appearances for the Ibrox side.
Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Röhl, who worked under Hansi Flick as an assistant at Bayern Munich and for the German national team, was asked whether he needed more players with leadership skills of the centre-back.
"Generally, for me, it is about a balance," he added. "You need in some positions a good group of leaders. When I look back to my time in Munich and you have a core like [David] Alaba, [Joshua] Kimmich, [Thomas] Müller, [Robert] Lewandowski and [Manuel] Neuer - then this is a core.
"Around this core you can play with exciting young players - but it's good in some phases of the season that you have this stability in some positions, and of course this is also what we are looking for, but it's about the balance.
"I'm not a coach who just asks for experience, I also like to play with young, exciting players. I think if you take just Mikey Moore, this is an exciting young player. But around these young players, it's good to have players who understand what it means.
"For this year, we will build up something, and I'm very positive that we will find this balance - and with results and good performances, then we will be growing as a group."
