Tottenham winger Nathan Oduwa returns to White Hart Lane after Rangers loan spell is cut short

Rangers have provided confirmation that Tottenham winger Nathan Oduwa has returned to White Hart Lane after his loan stint was ended prematurely. The 19-year-old first joined the Scottish Championship promotion favourites alongside team-mate Dominic Ball back in August 2015, with both players initially expected to remain in Glasgow for the entire season.

While Ball appears to remain part of Mark Warburton's first-team plans, however, Oduwa's deal has been cut short as the ambitious manager seeks to bolster his ranks with the prospective January signings of Brentford midfielder Toumani Diagouraga and St Johnstone's Michael O'Halloran. Rangers, seeking to return to the top-flight for the first time since suffering financial meltdown in 2012, have already signed former Doncaster midfielder Harry Forrester and Polish goalkeeper Maciej Gostomski during the current transfer window in addition to extending the loan of Gedion Zelalem from Arsenal.

Confirming the departure of the England U20 winger Oduwa, an abrupt statement on Rangers' official website read: "Nathan Oduwa's loan spell at the club has now ended and he has returned to Tottenham Hotspur."

Oduwa has yet to make his competitive debut for Tottenham, but did feature regularly during a temporary spell with Luton Town in 2014/15. He appeared 19 times in all competitions during his five months at Ibrox, scoring one solitary goal during the 4-0 rout of lowly Dumbarton. Although a regular in the early stages of Warburton's reign, he had fallen down the pecking order of late and his last outing came in the disappointing defeat at Falkirk in mid-December.

The player himself was first to break the news over his return to north London. Taking to Twitter, he said: "My time at Rangers has come to an end, but I'd like to thank everyone associated with Rangers for making me feel at home both on and off the field. I wanna wish the players good luck for the rest of the season and hope they get Rangers back to the Scottish Premiership."