Rangers manager Philippe Clement believes he has a much bigger challenge than Brendan Rodgers as he compared their “big rebuild” to Celtic’s “small renovation.”
The Belgian has made eight new signings as he looks to catch Rangers’ Old Firm rivals in the Scottish Premiership to stop Celtic winning their fourth consecutive title, which would make it 13 in 14 seasons.
Vaclav Cerny, Hamza Igamane, Jefte, Clinton Nsiala, Liam Kelly, Connor Barron have joined the Ibrox club and Oscar Cortes has returned on loan with an obligation to buy in the summer, while Mohamed Diomande made his loan move permanent.
Connor Barron has joined Rangers from Aberdeen
Rangers will play their home games at Hampden Park after a delay in materials arriving from Asia resulted in a hold-up on works to their Copland Road Stand at Ibrox.
Clement, who replaced Michael Beale as manager last October, has stressed the need for patience.
“We know of course theirs [Celtic] is a small renovation with a few details and they can build on their core. We have a big rebuild,” he told Sky Sports News.
“So let us first make a good foundation on this rebuild of our house and let us build our house the next couple of weeks in the next couple of months to make it much stronger, then it will be much stronger than it was six months ago.”
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Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland says the squad are used to being written off in the Scottish Premiership title race but says it is something they need to embrace
Rangers were troubled by a spate of injuries to key players last season with Clement vowing the fitness of the squad would improve.
“We’ve fixed things for sure, but not everything yet. You cannot do that in five weeks. That’s impossible,” he added.
“But we almost didn’t have injuries in the pre-season. We had an unlucky one with Nicolas Raskin with a bad tackle. Those things can happen with football.
“We’ve had a few minor muscle things but nothing major so that’s a big step forward. Several players who were injured a lot in the last two or three years are much more in pre-season now, so they will be more robust.
“But this is not the end of the pre-season for them. The next two or three months will also be crucial to make them stronger and better. We need to make a good combination of making them stronger and letting them play games.”
Could Cantwell stay?
Todd Cantwell joined Rangers in January 2023
Todd Cantwell has handed in a transfer request, but Clement insisted the midfielder has the option to change his mind and remain for the new season.
The 26-year-old is training with the B team until the situation is resolved.
“I kept the door open all these weeks, because it’s already a while ago that he came the first time with that,” he said.
“As long as a player is here and we believe in his qualities the door is always open, but we need to focus now on the guys who are totally with their minds in the club and to getting the results.”
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