Philippe Clement said that he was going to end the persistent injury problems that have cursed Rangers for the last few seasons.
Changing the man in charge doesn’t help given the variance in training methods and intensities playing havoc on the finely tuned muscles of fragile athletes, especially those with a predisposition to breaking down.
With Clement gone, the Rangers squad, coincidentally, has never looked fitter with Barry Ferguson having a full quota to choose from and the treatment rooms at Auchenhowie sitting empty.
Or are they? It had been thought that Neraysho Kasanwirjo had returned to Feyenoord and to the Netherlands to complete his rehabilitation.
The Dutch Under-21 international only made 12 appearances and around 420 minutes in total on the pitch, and yet, have Rangers dropped a hint that the 23-year old defender could be back?
Neraysho Kasanwirjo makes Rangers return
Injured on international duty, Kasanwirjo had just started to look like he could be a real bargain and that the option to buy clause was a no brainer.
The reason for this was a series of impressive cameos in the centre of defence and left-back where his pace and physicality made a difference, however, he had also dislodged James Tavernier and shored up the right-back position.
Speaking at the time of his injury, Philippe Clement claimed that Kasanwirjo would be returning to Feyenoord:
“He’s going to have an appointment with the surgeon,” the former Rangers boss said.
“It’s for sure a longer-term injury and now it’s about seeing what the precise problem is.
“We’re talking with Feyenoord about where to have the surgery and the rehab. It’s hard. He was adapting really well to the club and the mentality here.”
Further to this, the Eredivisie outfit looked to cancel the loan deal so that Luka Ivanusec could head out to get some game time.
Surprisingly though, Kasanwirjo returned to Ibrox for the last 16 Europa League clash with Fenerbahce, joining Paul Nsio and Zander Hutton in the fan zone at New Edmiston house before the game.
Will Kasanwirjo play again for Rangers this season?
It was never confirmed one way or the other if Kasanwirjo had actually returned to Feyenoord, so the assumption has to be that he is still registered with Rangers.
That he is still wearing official – and more recently released – Rangers training kit suggests that there might even be a chance of him playing again this season, he is also still part of the squad on Transfermarkt.
If Kasanwirjo was out for the season or Rangers weren’t interested in taking up the £1.5m option, he’d have returned to Feyenoord.
There might not be much to play for, but with one eye on the summer, and a need for long-term reinforcements, could Nils Koppen be about to make the sort of gamble with an injury prone player that Clement swore would never to be repeated?
