Philippe Clement ‘definitely’ knows six Rangers players he wants to get rid of admits ex-Ibrox captain
Philippe Clement will already know as many as six Rangers players who will “never make it” at Ibrox and can leave, according to Peter Martin.
The PLZ Soccer host suggested on The Football Show on 1 December that the Gers manager will have already identified who he wants to get rid of and former skipper Lee McCulloch agreed it was “definitely” the case.
But the ex-Light Blues midfielder suggested that the Belgian may be stuck with them until at least the summer so will be tasked with convincing them they have a role until then to get improved performances out of them.
Martin said (35m): “[Rangers] haven’t really been at it. There’s that feeling that the new manager comes in and everyone’s at it, and then new manager realises, ‘Here’s why this team’s not the real deal’.
“I think he knows right now, he’ll have a list of five or six players where he thinks, ‘You’re never making it here’.”
McCulloch replied: “Definitely, for me. But it’s whether the players that he’ll have on his list, whoever it is, it might be difficult for him to get rid of them, especially in January.
“Part of management is letting the players maybe think that they’ve still got a part to play until the end of the season.”
If not more
Logically Clement will have realised that there are a number of players in this Rangers squad that aren’t going to drive the side onto the necessary levels.
That is very much the reason he is in the job in the first place since Michael Beale was largely considered to have a playing staff lacking some key quality last season, and then the former manager was sacked after making it worse over the summer.
Signings such as Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers and Jose Cifuentes have struggled badly to find their feet in Glasgow and most would assume they are currently names who should be at risk of being moved on.
But since all have only just arrived they are also likely to be the same characters who McCulloch feels it will be difficult to shift very soon.
Clement has shown Lammers a lot more backing that might have been expected at the expense of others, and after singling out Todd Cantwell with his 35th-minute substitution against Aris Limassol he might be one who simply doesn’t suit the new manager.
There are likely to be far more takers for the English midfielder if he is available but given the quality he showed late last season it would certainly be a shame if he was to head for the exit so soon.
Rangers evidently need significant work on the squad still, but how much will be possible in the short term is open to question.
In other Rangers news, the top incoming transfer priority “has to be” one position claims a BBC pundit amid a £12million verdict.