Philippe Clement has signed Lyall Cameron with one eye on the future.
But the Rangers boss does not want the Dundee kid slacking off in the here and now. With the two clubs unable to agree on a price for the Scotland Under-21 midfielder will see out the season at Dens before joining Gers on a pre-contract agreement in the summer.
Clement is already looking forward to getting down to work with a youngster he rates highly. But he’s warned the 22-year-old he expects him to continue giving his all for Tony Docherty before swapping his dark blue kit for a light blue jersey. Clement said: “I’m very happy that Lyall is coming here. It’s next season. It’s part of our plans that we have with the club to develop young Scottish players or to get young Scottish players with potential. To give them chances also.
“Lyall has already done a lot of good things in Dundee. I think he scored 18 league goals already in 84 games for Dundee. So, that’s almost one out of four — those are really good stats. He has the right mentality. He really wants to come to the club. We had several talks about how I see him playing and what he could do for the team. So, we’re really happy that he can come next season.
“We will get to know the player really well. I want that he performs really well at Dundee, because otherwise it shows also that mentality can drop really fast.
“So I count on that, and I don’t have any doubts with Lyall Cameron around those things. It happens so much now, it’s public, but a lot of times these things are not public, and people just wait until it’s June to tell you guys that a transfer is made. You guys know also that not all transfers are made in June or July and August with players or contracts made.
“It’s really open, transparent, it’s good. And Lyall will give his best for Dundee, that’s also what I expect from him to do, and to show that he’s a good player, and to develop also with Tony the next couple of months to come in as strong as possible towards this club.
“If the player wants to go on holiday now for four months because he trained at Rangers, that would be a really bad sign towards me, and he would not be fit also to start the pre-season really well. So everybody benefits when he’s performing well — and he will do.”
Clement believes it is vital that he adds a streak of tartan through his team. John Souttar and Connor Barron are the only Scots to have featured regularly for his team this term but Gers’ Belgian boss reckons it’s key to have as many homegrown stars as possible flying the flag at Ibrox.
He said: “We had enough talks with Lyall to know that he understands what Rangers is. And, of course, Scottish players know it more. But you need to live the building. You need to live the club also to know things. It’s different.
“Like for Conor Barron, it was also different to come here and to play. But he knew also really well what this club is about. We’re looking for that kind of character also.
“Not only good players, but also players who can cope with what it is to be a Rangers player and to have the right mentality. And Lyall showed that in the talks.”
Clement this week had to leave new recruit Rafa Fernandes disappointed after announcing he had missed the cut for Gers’ Europa League squad due to registrations restrictions imposed by Uefa on clubs who fail to produce enough local talent.
But with Cameron following Barron’s arrival in the summer and youngsters like Bailey Rice and Findlay Curtis now forcing their way into the first team, Clement hopes this will be the last time he is left in that position.
He said: “I don’t want to speak about the past. I was not here in the building in the past. So there were moments where the club had more Scottish players and less Scottish players in other moments.
“It’s a clear strategy from the club, what we discussed before the season, that it was a very important part [to get more Scottish players in the team]. Last season I had to keep, in the second round in Europe, three players out of the selection.
“Now I still have to keep two players out of the selection. It’s not good. It’s not good for the players also. It’s important for Scottish football that these young players get chances to develop at this level, and we want to try to help and to push with that.”
For now, Clement is just looking to push on in the Scottish Cup as his side prepare to take on Queen’s Park in Sunday’s fifth-round showdown. And he admits he will be fuelled by the regret at missing out on this year’s League Cup after being shot down on spot-kicks by Celtic in the December final at Hampden.
“The Scottish Cup is one of the four chances that you have before the season,” said the Rangers manager. “Some, the route is shorter than others. It’s a difficult one to say.
“We missed one in a way that will stay on my stomach forever, the penalty situation there with the League Cup. But this is one of our goals, to win the Cup. It’s a very important one.”