Sport
Clement gives Gers stars contract extension verdict, only one is a cert
Philippe Clement has pulled no punches since arriving as Rangers manager, speaking honestly but without giving too much away.
What the Gers boss has been clear about is that the squad is far from ideal and that the situation around player contracts is also unacceptable.
In Philippe Clement, Rangers have a manager who knows how to run a football club and gave an interesting response when asked about how he plans to deal with those who might be leaving Ibrox in the summer.
Philippe Clement has Rangers player contract calls
Some of the names are pretty obvious in terms of what might happen to them.
Clement is obviously a fan of John Lundstram and Borna Barisic has also been given plenty of playing time.
As a manager, he wants players who are robust but Kemar Roofe and Ryan Jack don’t fall into this category.
Speaking as part of the build-up for the clash with Aberdeen, he said:
“Those are five different stories. That is something with the club and me to decide on.
“I can say my thoughts on sporting ideas around things and then it is between the club and the players about the financial stuff.
“At the end, I am not the guy who is paying the bills luckily. My wife is happy about that!”
Again, unlike his predecessor, he hasn’t given mixed messages or suggested that there are certain players that he wants to keep.
If you were to ask fans, I’d imagine that Lundstram is the only one that they would want to keep around with Barisic not capable of fully adapting to project Clement and the rest just not contributing anywhere near enough for senior players on big wages.
With another rebuild on the cards, a large chunk of wages could be freed up that can be better used on younger, more dynamic and more resilient players.
Resigning the same players who have let us down in the past for one reason or another is not how we move forward.
