Rangers boss Philippe Clement has admitted that he had one hesitation over the move to bring Nils Koppen to Ibrox earlier this month.
The Gers have been making strides on the pitch ever since Philippe Clement was appointed in October.
Clement has now won 11 out of 14 games, remains unbeaten as Rangers boss and has guided the Gers into the Europa League knockout stages.
Oh, and Clement has already secured his first piece of silverware by winning the Viaplay Cup final against Aberdeen on Sunday.
Clement is working wonders at Ibrox and the hope is that Rangers will be dragged forward off the pitch under his stewardship too.
Philippe Clement comments on Nils Koppen
Rangers have needed some guidance in the transfer market since Ross Wilson’s move to Nottingham Forest.
Michael Beale took the lead on the summer transfer business and it’s fair to suggest that not everybody was happy with that approach.
Rangers have now decided to bring in a new director of football recruitment with Nils Koppen arriving earlier this month.
Koppen previously worked as a scout for PSV Eindhoven and is now charged with the task of finding some gems for Rangers.
Koppen is Belgian just like Clement and there was a crossover in their spells at Genk, but Clement has already admitted that they didn’t really know each other.
In fact, Clement has now told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad that he had a hesitation about Koppen’s move to Glasgow.
Clement claims that Rangers did not appoint Koppen just because he is Belgian, and that factor actually made Clement doubt the move.
The Rangers boss appears to be conscious of turning the club into a ‘Belgian colony’ and doesn’t want to just bring people in because they share his nationality.
Clement feels that Koppen simply ‘made the best impression’ during talks with Rangers and his appointment has nothing to do with being Belgian.
“I have had discussions with the candidates together with the board,” says Clement. “You certainly don’t have to call me a manager based on the English model, I’m really not concerned with job titles. But I do feel that the club highly values my opinion.”
“We did not take Nils because he is Belgian, but because he made the best impression in the conversations and we had very good references about him. What’s more, the only thing that made me doubt it was that he is Belgian. After all, it is absolutely not the intention to turn this into a Belgian colony,” he added.
Rangers already have Belgian and Dutch flavour
Rangers fans will expect to see Koppen dip into the Belgian and Dutch markets given his nationality and his job history.
There has already been an eye on those markets though, starting with Nicolas Raskin arriving from Standard Liege in January.
Then you look at Michael Beale’s three attacking signings over the summer.
Cyriel Dessers, Danilo and Sam Lammers all had history in Dutch football whilst Dessers was born in Belgium and turned out for the likes of Lokeren and Genk.
Rangers have already looked towards those markets in recent times and Koppen may only strengthen that approach going forward – even with Clement’s hesitations.
