Kris Boyd baffled by Oscar Cortes situation after Rangers announcement
Kris Boyd has been left baffled by Oscar Cortes’ situation at Rangers.
The Gers travel to Hearts on Sunday (16 February) as Philippe Clement and his men looking desperately for a victory after losing to Queen’s Park in Scottish Cup action last time out.
The Light Blues’ poor form this term has left plenty of questions surrounding Clement’s future at Ibrox and his latest decisions have only added to that.
Oscar Cortes nowhere to be seen in Rangers squad v Hearts
With Clement at the helm, Rangers have made a number of additions to their squad under his management in the hope of pushing at the top of the Scottish Premiership this term.
However, this has not happened and with 16 points separating the Gers from Celtic at the top of the table, things have clearly gone very wrong.
One of Clement’s recruits was is Cortes who made the move to Ibrox in February 2024.
It was not an ideal start to life for the youngster who was forced to miss the end of last season through injury but this term, he has been available for Clement to choose.
Nevertheless, in Scottish Premiership action, he has made just seven appearances across the campaign, three of which were from the starting line-up.
In addition, he has now been out of the squad completely for the last three games with minutes in the five games prior inconsistent.
As Clement announced his squad to take on Hearts with no Cortes involved again, Boyd was left questioning what is happening at Ibrox as he said live on Sky Sports Football (16 February, 11:27am): “Philippe Clement has had the money to spend and spent it.
“You look at, he brought in Bajrami not playing again today, that was a big summer signing. Oscar Cortes, where is he? Where is he? Propper, another what? One and a half, two million pounds spent, not playing today.
“I mean, you can go round the houses and make all the excuses you want, it is not good enough for Rangers for a period of time now and there’s been other times where managers, it’s been bad.
“Gio van Bronckhorst got Rangers to a Europa League final, won the Scottish Cup and was sacked probably for less.”
Philippe Clement on borrowed time at Rangers
When you consider how poorly Rangers are doing this season and how long Clement has had to oversee the project at Ibrox, it is quite shocking that he has managed to retain his job for this long.
As Boyd points out, there are a number of transfers who have either not been worth the money paid or, like Cortes, have gone completely missing from proceedings.
Given the hierarchy have backed the Belgian to make these additions, between them at Ibrox they have to ensure they are only bringing the right faces to Glasgow, rather than wasting money on those who are not going to make a difference.
After the Gers were dumped out of the Scottish Cup at the hands of Queen’s Park, there was real concern over whether Clement would still be in a job for the Hearts game but those at Rangers have chosen to stand by him.
The Light Blues do still have Europa League action ahead of them this term but they have to put everything into that because if you compare the current boss’ record to those of his predecessors, there are serious questions over how he is still in his position.