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.
“Of course it helps a lot and you see the financial differences and you have a group of teams winning a lot of things and other less.
“It’s our job to get the best out of the potential that is here.
“We were close last season. People maybe forget, but we were close.
“It’s about stepping up now with the new guys coming in, with all the youth and young players, and using that energy also to take the next step. To let them gel together and make connections together on and off the pitch.
“That takes time to get these connections, and at the same time there’s getting players back from injuries.”
One player who will be sidelined for the next set of games is Ridvan Yilmaz, who is out injured for the next six weeks.
Clement said that was one position where he wasn’t looking to buy a replacement, with other players ready to step up.
“Ridvan will be out and I don’t like to say too much in detail but it will be around four to six weeks, something like that.
“I don’t think we have the assets to [bring in another left-back], we have to put all the focus on the positions we need for the squad for the rest of the season.
“Bringing in another full-back now and to have Ridvan and have Jefte – and we have a third one with Robbie Fraser who has made a good evolution in the last couple of months.
“So it is his time to take his chance and he did positive things in the pre-season.
“To give chances to guys coming out of the academy is also part of the story.”
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