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Rangers ace who started v Livingston looks set for exit after Clement comments
Ryan Jack’s ongoing struggles to stay fit seem likely to bring his Rangers career to a close at the end of the season after Philippe Clement’s latest squad fitness update.
The 31-year-old midfielder started just his first Light Blues match since mid-November in the 3-0 victory over Livingston at the weekend (3 February), but the manager revealed ahead of the visit of Neil Warnock’s Aberdeen he would not be risking the Scot for the following match.
Jack returned injured from international duty with Scotland before his most recent nine game lay-off, which included the Viaplay Cup final victory for which Clement was contending with a selection crisis in midfield, which continues a trend for him personally and at Ibrox more widely.
The manager has regularly expressed his bemusement at the scale of injury absences since taking over in Glasgow, and did so again as he explained his hope for backroom staff to be able to get Jack fit to feature regularly, which he acknowledged hasn’t happened for multiple seasons.
Speaking on 5 February the Belgian said, via Football Scotland: “It is only a short recovery time between the two games. I will not take risks with him now. We will build him with our medical staff and performance staff in the next weeks and months to make him more robust so that he can come out of this cycle of injuries that he had. That is planning long term.
“The players are all working really hard to be available. We need to rebuild them. But it is positive already that they’re back in contention for a spot in the team and to play. Of course I’m more pleased now than when we had 11 players out. But that was also a situation I’d never seen in my life before.
“I’m used to having teams where almost everybody is fit because we work in a way to create that. So that’s what I want for the future, to not be in that situation anymore. So it’s not being happy about it. It’s still hard work to get them there.
“We are going to use all the tools in the building and around the building to try and get that (Jack playing on a regular basis). It is something that didn’t happen in the last couple of years. So it is a good challenge. You see, we don’t only have challenges in the ranking, we also have challenges outside of that.”
When fit Scotland international Jack is more than capable of being an important player, but with his contract expiring in the summer his regular lack of availability is dramatically reducing the chances that he gets an extension.
Jack availability struggles continue at Rangers
He’s never cracked 2,000 SPFL minutes in a season since moving to Rangers in 2017, despite having done so in each of the previous four with Aberdeen, and hasn’t broken the 1,500 minute barrier in either of the past two campaigns [Transfermarkt].
So while Clement would no doubt love for his medical staff to land on a hidden formula to get the midfielder out of the treatment room it is obviously going to be easier said than done.
The manager has been searching for a solution to the endless injuries in the squad at Ibrox since he arrived, and has been commenting publicly on the situation since the end of October when he was advocating cryo-chamber use [Scottish Sun, 31 October], but without much success.
So that won’t raise hopes that he can have specific success with Jack before a contract decision has to be made, with Clement admitting there have been no discussions yet until the player gets to a “good level” of fitness.
The 49-year-old hinted at an international retirement option as hesaid: “It’s not taken place because he’s just back. It is maybe something to discuss in the next couple of weeks. I am not thinking about it now so it is not going to be a talk now.
“I have also been in my national team so I know what it is. It was also for me very important to represent my country. In one moment in my career I also decided myself to stop. We will see.
“I need to think good about it, when to do the talk. It can be after the Euros also. We will see. First we need to see that we can get him to a good level, that he can play regularly without having problems. That is the first step to take.”
Time is clearly running out on that front, and while John Lundstram can likely justify a new deal by being available week-in and week-out, it is harder to see Clement wanting to tie up a portion of his wage bill in someone who he can’t use, just as is surely the case for Kemar Roofe.
Following the summer overhaul the Jamaica international is probably the best finisher Rangers have, but like Jack he simply cannot stay fit so seems more likely than not to move on at the expiry of his contract.
The 31-year-old has picked up regular injuries throughout his Rangers career, but has always managed to score goals when available.
However, last season he missed virtually the entire campaign and this term has only been a slight improvement, so an extension likely can’t be justified.
Clement has regularly highlighted his frustration with this very situation so for Jack and Roofe’s problems to be persisting months into the manager’s tenure the writing looks like it’s on the wall for both, barring a shock turnaround.
