The £4.5m Rangers small print Philippe Clement doesn't regret as boss sees 'no reason' to worry
The small print means Rangers are tied in to completing their £4.5million swoop for Oscar Cortes this coming summer. And Ibrox gaffer Philippe Clement believes the winger can still have a big impact at Ibrox - despite his wretched injury record.
The Gers boss had high hopes for the highly-rated Colombian prospect when he first lured the 21-year-old to Glasgow 12 months ago. But it’s been one set-back after another for the luckless Cortes since his loan move from Lens. Initially signed on a six-month deal with an option to make it permanent, things looked promising when he slotted his first goal against Hearts in only his third Rangers start. But his burgeoning progress was halted just four days later when Cortes suffered a season-ending knee injury at Kilmarnock.
That didn’t stop Clement and recruitment boss Nils Koppen renewing the wideman’s loan agreement over the summer - this time with an OBLIGATION to buy at the costly sum of £4.5m. He rejoined the Belgian’s squad for pre-season but quickly found himself back in the treatment room after tearing a hamstring at Tynecastle on the opening day of the new campaign.
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A brief return in September didn’t last long while his latest comeback has proved just as frustratingly brief, with Clement confirming the South American is now on his way to see a specialist - with no word on when he might be available. Coughing up a seven-figure sum for a player who made only 15 appearances - just seven of them starts - in a year isn’t the type of transfer the Ibrox faithful had in mind after hearing new CEO Patrick Stewart this week talk about the need to get better value for money from the transfer market.
But Clement is confident the move will work out in the end as he shrugged off any suggestion of buyer’s regret. The Rangers boss - who is also waiting for news on the shoulder injury sustained by striker Danilo during Wednesday’s win over Aberdeen - said: “Today with specialists. I'm not an expert in those things. We need to hear their assessment first. I hope it's a short-term thing.
“It would have been ideal that Oscar got minutes at the weekend. And also on Sunday against Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup. But it's part of football. It's unlucky. Football is a sport with duels. He's a strong boy. He has strong legs. But sometimes you get hard knocks.
“He’s had a lot of bad luck the last couple of months. It's disappointing for him because he's somebody with a good mentality, who wants to work hard. Who is ambitious to make the right steps, who showed also good quality in the first weeks that he was here. Sometimes you can have bad luck. And I hope that this is the last part of bad luck for him in his career.”
Asked if he was still certain Cortes could justify the decision to sign him permanently, Clement added: “Yes, because the injuries that he had afterwards were nothing to do with the injuries that he had last season. So those are decisions made by everybody in the club. He has the talent to do it.
“So his physical state will be in a good way. He needs rhythm for that. He needs training for that. We all know that he has the football qualities. He has the right mentality. He has the right vision also, the overview in the final third. What is very important to have is composure. He showed all of that. So I don't see any reason why he would not make a good career here at Rangers.”
Clement - who is waiting to see if Robin Propper and Jack Butland come through training today before deciding if they will feature against Sunday’s Highland League opponents in their Cup opener - may be counting on Cortes for the future, but it looks far from certain that the likes of Rabbi Matondo, Kieran Dowell and Cyriel Dessers will around for too long.
Matondo and Dowell have been told to find new clubs while Dessers admits he may need to move on having lost his place to Moroccan wonderkid Hamza Igamane. Quizzed on the trio’s situation, he said: “I never speak about individual cases and names in that way.
“It's always in the transfer window. It's about the right price for every player. It needs to be a win-win for everybody. We will see what's going to happen next week. [Moving players on] is something that will be necessary for the club, yes.
“That's a club decision. Like it was with the same decisions in the summer. I know everything that's going on. But I don't have a clue if there will be something signed fast or not. The first second that we sign something, we will tell you all. That I can promise.”
On Dessers, he added: “I spoke with Cyriel about why he played less than before, yes. And that's because of the evolution of Hamza also. So we will see what happens. Cyriel is working really hard. He's doing everything. He's good in the group. He's a very good lad. He's thinking very collectively always.
“He's in support of Hamza. He gave Hamza a lot of tips last couple of months also in the trainings and around games. And he showed that also. Now in the last game, the way he came in, you don't see a player who's disappointed that he's not starting.
“Although he started a lot of games before. And scored also a lot of goals. He's somebody who's there for the team. Is there a moment that he wants to play all the games? Then he needs to make a decision. If it's not the case, he's in competition with others. That's freeing him to talk."
Meanwhile, external experts called in by new CEO Patrick Stewart to run the rule over the stumbling Ibrox football operation got to work this week - and Clement is fully behind the study. He said: “I will be one of the people that talk with the people coming in to make the review. We did a kind of similar thing with another company last season to change things.
“It's an important thing to do. To have a view from outside also. And to speak with them about the ideas that they have, the ideas we have to make things better. it's a company that did several clubs all over Europe. So it's a good way also to compare things. Patrick is in now and we can make real changes.
“It's good to have the ability to compare with other clubs. What's been going on and to have other ideas. I think the stupidest thing that you can do in life is to stay in your own tunnel and not to think or to listen other views of other people with experience, with the right experience.
“A football club that doesn't evolve decreases because other people are evolving, other clubs are evolving. But it's not a new thing. In Brugge this happens every several years. It's a normal thing to do.”
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