Philippe Clement insists signing fresh talent will be “necessary” if Rangers are to build on their successful push for the Europa League last 16.
The Ibrox gaffer watched his side beat the odds to score a top eight finish on Thursday night by beating Union Saint Gilloise. And he’ll now be able to shake up the squad he’s registered with UEFA for the knock-out stages, with three changes permitted. So far, however, Clement has made just one January addition after signing defender Rafa Fernandes on loan from Lille. But with the transfer deadline set to slam shut at 11pm on Monday night, the Ibrox gaffer said he’d like to see more new arrivals.
He told Sky Sports: “I think it’s necessary to make a next step with the squad in certain positions. We will see how far we will get because at the end it’s the board who decides what money can be spent on that.”
Sporting director Nils Koppen has been busy this month but his time has been spent finding new clubs for Gers’ fringe men. The Belgian exec has succeeded in removing around £50,000 a week from the Ibrox wage bill after sending Kieran Dowell and Rabbi Matondo on loan to Birmingham and Hannover 96.
The likes of Tom Lawrence could also be moved on having found game time hard to come by. And Clement hopes that will free up a path for kids such as Bailey Rice, Findlay Curtis and Paul Nsio to feature more regularly having recently made their top-team breakthroughs.
Asked if he expected more players to leave before Monday night, Clement said: “Not anymore much more. It can be that still people leave.
“Kieran and Rabbi were not playing much and had good wages, contracts out of the past, not the same contracts that the club can give anymore to new players. So that’s also one of the reasons that they could go and that they could be replaced by younger players or by new players who can step into the building. That’s the way Rangers need to go for the moment.”
A Europa League win over the Belgians and results elsewhere saw Gers storm into the last 16 – with a March showdown against one of Anderlecht, Bodo/Glimt, Twente or Fenerbahce now to come. And Clement is proud of his team after watching them qualify as one of the best eight sides the hard way.
The Ibrox boss – whose team had to take on fellow last-16 entrants Lyon, Olympiacos, Spurs and Manchester United – said: “We were by far the team who played the most difficult opponents, if you see it, at the end of the road.
“We were the only team in this top eight who played against four other opponents. A lot of them played only against one or not even one of the top eight. So that’s a big difference.
“So that’s a major thing. And also with all the absentees, of course, and we really had to puzzle and to puzzle deeply into the squads to get the results, but everybody rigged in.
“And we get also the points we deserved. It was every game we created a lot of chances. I think we scored the second most goals. There are only two teams who scored more goals than us in this group stage. So a lot of positives to take out of that.”