Rangers boss Philippe Clement has backtracked on comments made regarding the injury situation of Kemar Roofe.
The Jamaican international striker, 30, has seen his four seasons at Ibrox besieged by injury problems with the ex-Anderlecht man spending the bulk of this campaign and the last on the sidelines.
This led to Philippe Clement suggesting that Kemar Roofe wouldn’t be returning to the Rangers side until the club got to the root of the forward’s issues.
Clement even sent the former Leeds United striker to Belgium to see a team of specialists as Rangers look to restart his stuttering career.
But speaking ahead of the Europa League clash with Sparta Prague, Philippe Clement pointed to a return to the side for Kemar Roofe.
This comes after the striker was spotted back in Rangers training with hopes rising regarding a potential return to fitness and form.
However, at the same time Philippe Clement has cooled any suggestion Kemar Roofe is coming back fully fit in intriguing comments.
Rangers have had a substantial list of injury problems since Philippe Clement came into the club and now it appears the coach is changing tact when it comes to Roofe’s recovery.
“Kemar (Roofe) will be in the selection although it’s really, really early for him,” Clement told the press ahead of the game with Sparta Prague.
“But it’s because you never know for five or ten minutes. It will not be more than that but we are missing quite some players.
“So we need to make a little bit of a pragmatic choice in that way. I don’t like if a player has been that long out and just trains to make my selection but it’s necessary at the moment.”
Philippe Clement refuses to go into Kemar Roofe injury details
Later questioned on his earlier comments about building Kemar Roofe’s fitness, Philippe Clement would expand on the player’s situation.
Asked if he was confident if Kemar Roofe was in a good place, the Belgian manager’s instant response was “no” but he did not want to discuss details of the player’s situation.
“It’s too early because Kemar is a story that’s been going up and down already for a long time,” said Clement.
“We are trying to find a long-term solution in the way of working with him. I’ve sent him also to somebody, of course I’ve talked first with the medical staff about that.
“We will see what the result is long-term so I’m not going to take big conclusions now, it’s too early for that.
“But I hope we can make him a player who is available for a much longer time than he was until now because it’s an important player for this club, the club paid a lot of money for him.
“It’s also my duty to get the best out of all the players so we will see in a few month. It’s going to be the work of a few months.
“It’s not something you can solve with surgery, it will not be a solution. I don’t want to go too much in detail.
“I just want that we get time now for Kemar to make him really ready and we hope, because it’s a problem that’s been there for years, that we can find a long-term solution.
“I don’t want to go too much in detail because they are a little bit private things so I don’t want to get in a discomfort zone.”
Whilst it’s clear Philippe Clement is determined to get Kemar Roofe back up to fitness, it also appears the player’s injury problems are not going away overnight.
This is also a real change in direction for the Rangers manager who could now use the striker in the Europa League clash against Sparta Prague.
Since joining Rangers on a reported £4.5m deal in 2020, Kemar Roofe has played 88 games for the club, scoring 37 goals.
