Rangers manager Philippe Clement has defended the decision to sign Oscar Cortes as the Colombian winger recovers from injury.
The Gers have signed a £4m loan-to-buy deal for Cortes following an initial six-month loan spell from RC Lens which was first signed in January.
Only seven games into his Rangers career, Oscar Cortes was struck down by a serious injury at Rugby Park which effectively ended his season.
The Colombian, 20, then pulled up on the first-day of this season against Hearts, before picking up yet another injury in a training ground duel.
The situation has heaped scrutiny on Rangers’ decision to move for the winger, who is still ‘several weeks’ out from returning to first-team training.
Philippe Clement defends Oscar Cortes injury record
Rangers’ injury problems have been well-documented and Philippe Clement has previously pledged to reverse the worrying trend at Auchenhowie.
The Belgian manager has revamped the Gers’ training centre set-up and is determined to bring availability back to 90% per player across the season.
Therefore, the decision to sign Oscar Cortes given his injury problems in the latter half of last season has heaped scrutiny on Philippe Clement.
Speaking ahead of the Scottish Premiership trip to Kilmarnock, Philippe Clement has launched a staunch defence of the signing and insists Cortes has simply been ‘unlucky’.
The Rangers manager also insists that the club are moving away from signing players with bad injury histories, as has been the norm in recent seasons.
“First, I want to say that before Oscar came to Rangers, he didn’t have one injury in all his career,” Clement emphasised.
“Not in Lens, not in Colombia, nothing. It’s not a player that the club wanted to bring in with a big injury record.
“Those are things we are looking much more into than in the past.
“In the past, there have been several transfers with players having a lot of injuries before and it kept on going here.
“Oscar was unlucky last season with the injury he suffered. This is a different one than what he had last season.
“He’s been unlucky in this period. He’s here nine months, not longer than that, and has been unlucky in that way.
“But he’s not a player where the medical staff thinks that he’s somebody who gets fast injuries or easy injuries. That he’s not robust enough or whatever, [these injuries] can also happen in the career of football.
“I hope for him, this is the last one, maybe this is the last one of his career. I hope for him and it’s a possibility.
“In all the transfers that have been made, there’s a clear voice from the medical staff to dig into the past of players and to have their opinion about players who are in the building.
“If they’re sustainable [and able] to play a lot of games in a season and if they’re strong enough for that.
“That’s one of the important points to make a decision about signing a player or not and was the same case with Oscar.”
Nils Koppen ‘confident’ in Rangers winger impact
The comments of Philippe Clement bear a striking resemblance to those of Nils Koppen, who was speaking about Oscar Cortes in a series of international break interviews.
Also claiming that Cortes never had a single injury before joining Rangers, the Belgian director of recruitment insists the winger brings value to the club over a five-year contract.
However, Koppen also claimed that Rangers are ‘looking into’ the situation with Cortes signed to have a direct impact on the first-team squad.
“Oscar came in with a blank injury record,” said Koppen. “No injuries, no scans, everything was perfect.
“We’re looking into it as a club. I’m still confident in the move to bring him here. We signed him on a five-year deal and still believe in his potential over a longer period.”
