MARK WARBURTON is confident Nathan Oduwa will emerge stronger from his experience in Scottish football after he again hit the headlines this week.

The winger was lucky to escape serious injury after a crunching tackle from Kieran Gibbons early on in Rangers’ win over Livingston on Tuesday night and had to be replaced at half-time after a bruising opening 45 minutes at Ibrox.

Oduwa has showcased his talents in a series of impressive performances since making the move from White Hart Lane in the summer and will spend the rest of the campaign with the Light Blues.

Glasgow Times: Livingston's Kieran Gibbons (left) challenges Nathan Oduwa

The 19-year-old could return to action when the Gers face St Mirren tomorrow and boss Warburton reckons he will learn how to deal with the rough and tumble nature of our game sooner rather than later.

He said: “It is part of learning. With all respect, the English Premier League is not a soft league. They are physical athletes that are quick and strong.

“Tottenham, Arsenal, these type of clubs, send their assets, which are what these boys are, out to develop. He has to learn to deal with that.

You get on with it, you get quicker with the ball, one and two touch. If you take an extra touch, you get hurt. The Premier League is no different.

“You watch the top teams play and the top players play, it is limited touches and the ball moves so quickly. That is what he has to do.

Glasgow Times: Rangers' Nathan Oduwa (right) takes the ball past Lewis Toshney

His problem is that he wants [the ball] too much sometimes. So, that incident having happened, he then wants to drop deeper to get the ball earlier to make more of an impact.

“But we can’t lose our shape and our geography on the pitch.

“He is a young player that is hungry to play, hungry to learn and he will go to a very high level.”