Philippe Clement confirms major Rangers transfer plans are underway as David Edgar reacts
David Edgar has expressed his relief to Philippe Clement’s confirmation that Rangers are set for a summer of change when the season ends.
The Heart & Hand host reacted via Twitter on 13 May after the Belgian’s press conference in which he revealed that there are 11 players unavailable for the visit of Dundee and indicated work has already been under way for months to stage a “turnaround” at Ibrox.
Edgar is pleased that there will be a second transfer market overhaul in the space of a year, with the Scottish Premiership title as good as gone now after the latest away defeat to Celtic at the weekend.
He wrote, with a celebratory dancing emoji: “First admission from PC of big summer changes. Because by Christ there needs to be.”
Transfer window to be busy again at Rangers
It wasn’t supposed to be this way this year, after Michael Beale was handed the responsibility to oversee the necessary transition from the old guard to the new last summer.
The departures of Alfredo Morelos, Allan McGregor, Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield and Filip Helander on frees was expected to herald a complete refit at Ibrox and yet, despite plenty of activity, Rangers still find themselves in the same position under Clement 12 months later.
Following a third Old Firm derby without a win for the Belgian there may be some concern developing that he is set to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.
Crucially for Clement he has revived a season that looked lost under Beale using the same players, and did something the Englishman never did in winning a trophy, but having looked like he had everything under control at Rangers for some months the end to the campaign is threatening to undercut that.
The Scottish Cup final against Celtic could be the difference between the Light Blues heading into their latest summer rebuild with optimism or pessimism around the manager, as a defeat would mean another trophy missed, a fourth crack at Brendan Rodgers’ side without a win, and a worryingly sense that the club are in the same position they were under Beale.
No manager is perfect but while the temptation may have been to blame the squad as the excellent early-2024 form disappeared there have been mistakes made by Clement since that mean he has to share the responsibility.
A derby win at Hampden and a successful transfer window are now his key opportunities to show he can put an end to what has become a damaging cycle in the years since Steven Gerrard left for Aston Villa.
Moving the right players on, keeping hold of vital components, and bringing in the correct reinforcements must be done without the misses and the qualified successes this time.
In other Rangers news, a manager has publicly admitted he wants to buy a “great” Ibrox attacker.
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