The Belgian has been speaking about how Rangers’ financial constraints will force him to get “creative” this month
Philippe Clement has assured Rangers fans the club are working extremely hard to secure their “targets” in the January transfer window – but insists a limited budget will make his job difficult.
The Belgian boss has already drafted in Fabio Silva on loan from English Premier League side Wolves for the remainder of the season, but the Portuguese attacker remains the only new arrival to date as the window enters its third week.
Clement and the Ibrox side’s head of football recruitment Nils Koppen are searching for new players in a variety of different positions this month in an effort to give the club the best possible chance of wrestling the Scottish Premiership title away from rivals Celtic.
A number of players have been linked with the Gers in recent weeks, but Clement isn’t panicking about their lack of activity so far as he issued a reminder to supporters that concluding deals in January is never straightforward.
Asked about the possibility of new signings this month, Clement told Rangers TV: “Everybody is working day and night. Everybody’s working really hard on that. It’s not the easiest window if you don’t have the most money so you have to be creative and fast.
“That’s the reality always with those things until there is a signature from somebody. So we’re going to keep on working hard the next couple of weeks to get our targets.”
Meanwhile, Clement will discover if he faces a potential touchline ban in the coming days after being ordered off during the 1-0 friendly loss to Hertha Berlin on Saturday. A handball incident given against Scott Wright during the bounce game left the Belgian incensed and saw the referee brandish a red card.
Clement was forced to watched the remainder of the match from behind a fence at the La Manga Sports Complex but the Scottish Daily Mail claim that the Spanish FA are unlikely to report the incident to the SFA, meaning he should be free to take his place in the dugout for Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie with Dumbarton. Speaking post-match, Clement stated: “I don’t even want to talk about the red card. This is a friendly game and you know that in the southern countries strange things happen. It’s not important.”
