‘I can’t put a gun to their heads’: Rangers need players to leave before buying

‘I can’t put a gun to their heads’: Rangers need players to leave before buying

Philippe Clement has reiterated Rangers need to sell players before bringing in new faces, saying he can’t “put a gun to the head” of those the club would like to leave.

 

The Belgian is working to rebuild the Rangers squad this summer as he looks to improve the team’s fortunes.

 

Fees have been paid to make Jefte, Robin Propper, Hamza Igamane, and Mohamed Diomande permanent members of the squad, while Oscar Cortes and Vaclav Cerny have joined on loan. Connor Barron, Clinton Nsiala and Liam Kelly have arrived under freedom of contract.

 

Those new recruits have come in after eight members of the first team squad, including Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic, have left but Clement wants to make further changes to realise his vision for the team.

Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi are two high-earners who have been told that their future lies away from the club and others have been linked with an Ibrox exit.

 

When asked about rumours linking Rabbi Matondo with Leeds United, Clement said he couldn’t say anything on that but then went on to say again that players would need to go before he could add another new face.

“There are so many rumours about players,” he said. “We had a talk several weeks ago that it’s important for the club to sell players to get players. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next two weeks in that way. We will see.

 

“That’s the case and some of them know that already and have for a really long time and they are still in the building.

 

“That makes things more difficult but it is what it is.

 

“I can’t put a gun to their heads to get them out of the building. That’s also not the idea.

 

“It’s like what I said about other things, it’s not something I can control. So I don’t put any energy into that.

“All the energy is in the players who are here and will be here and to get the next result.”

 

Rangers’ Champions League exit on Tuesday increased the financial gap between them and rivals Celtic, with the Parkhead club assured of a significant income from having reached the group stage of the competition.

 

Clement acknowledged the importance of funding to achieve a team’s aims but said that it wasn’t always the case that it was necessary for success.

 

“It’s not only about money,” the Rangers boss said. “If that’s the case then everywhere in the world the club with the most money wins the title every year.