5 Rangers presser takeaways as Philippe Clement challenges out of contract trio to change his mind

Philippe Clement has challenged Rangers' out-of-contract stars to prove they deserve to stay at Ibrox.

Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe are all in the final months of their deals and Clement has hinted that he's made his mind up over their futures. But the hardline Gers boss has offered the injury-hit trio a lifeline by challenging them to make meaningful contributions over the next six games, with a Treble at stake.

Three players that Clement is adamant he does NOT want to lose is John Lundstram, Connor Goldson and James Tavernier. Lundstram has been a mainstay in Clement's midfield but has yet to commit his future to the club with his contract also set to expire this summer. Goldson and Tavernier, meanwhile, have been heavily linked with mega-money moves to Saudi Arabia as ex-boss Steven Gerrard plots end-of-season swoops.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's trip to St Mirren, Clement has his say on the transfer rumours and also issued an injury update on Abdallah Sima. Here, Football Scotland picked out the five best headlines from today's press conference

Injury update

"Sima will be out. We're in contact with Brighton about that with the next couple of weeks. I hope to see him playing again this season, and he hopes also. He's very motivated about that. He's a terrific lad, someone with a strong mental strength and a really positive person, so he takes it and he wants to come back as fast as possible. Rabbi Matondo also had a bad tackle during that game against Hearts, so he's doubtful for the weekend. Ridvan Yilmaz and Ryan Jack I expect back in training next week."

Has the word 'Treble' been mentioned?

"No, I tell them to win the next game. Just one at a time still? Yeah, of course. It's the only way, not only here but in every league. Everybody who is busy with more games loses their focus. It's about the next game and to show yourselves. We had a bad week but you need the next game to win there. And if you win, you need to win the next game also or it's not good. If you don't want, you need to react in the next game. So it's game-by-game, simple as that. It's also an evaluation moment, the split. Everybody plays against everybody the same amount of games. If we look back in the last six months, where we are working together, then we are the team who has taken the most points. We've taken four more points than Celtic in that period. If you look to all league games against Premiership teams, then it's even more because we won the cup final and we won against Hearts and they had a draw against Aberdeen. I think everybody in the club will have signed for that six months ago and nobody believes that would've been possible. It's now repeating that again. It's not a guarantee but it's something they've proven already and now they need to prove it again in the next six games"

James Tavernier and Connor Goldson Saudi interest

"I didn't hear Steven! Yeah, I expect them to be here next season. That's my expectation. Have I spoken to them? No. There's no reason to. My players come to speak to me if they have doubts or if they want to go or if they are out of contract. We have that relationship. If I need to speak to every player where there is a rumour about, then we will not train too much or I cannot speak about a lot of interesting things because there are so many rumours in the world now and so much fake news also. So if you need to speak about that all time, it's a waste of energy."

Futures of out-of-contract players

Have decisions been made? "In a big part yes, but there are still six games to convince in another way. If somebody who we could not count on enough in the last season plays the next six games and he's the best guy on the pitch, then it's silly not to give a contract. Everything is still possible it's in their hands."

Asked specifically about John Lundstram: "Nothing to speak about now. There have been offers from the club, there's no agreement yet that's the only thing I can say for the moment. I hope that he stays. I know he loves the club and loves to be here. It depends what you can offer as a club and what other clubs offer in this situation. That's why I don't like that important players are out of contract. We've talked about it a few times. I don't t think it's a good thing for a club but it's something that will never happen again in the period that I'm here."

Defensive selection headache

"I can change that. I have four really good centre-backs for me who did a good job this season. It's about every game looking who's in the best shape in that moment. It's about momentum. Maybe all four are in a good momentum and then it's tactical choices to make. It will continue like it was in the last couple of months, there's no difference."