No Philippe Clement press conference is ever complete these days without an in-depth discussion of Rangers’ walking wounded.
Fortunately, with Rangers expected to cruise past fifth-tier Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup on Sunday regardless of how many changes the Ibrox boss makes to his starting XI, Clement’s injured players have another week to get themselves back to fitness ahead of that intriguing Europa League trip to Manchester United.
Clement may have opted to rest the likes of Danilo, James Tavernier, John Souttar and Jack Butland anyway against the Highland League outfit at Ibrox.
That decision has now been taken out of his hands, of course. The £5 million former Feyenoord striker picked up a problem as Rangers cruised past Aberdeen on Wednesday and will be unavailable for the visit of Fraserburgh.
Butland may be absent again, meaning Liam Kelly is likely to deputise once again in goal.
Clement does have more positive news about Robin Propper, however. There is, he says, a ‘big chance’ the Dutchman will be fit to go again despite the fact Propper was forced off late on against Aberdeen.
The Rangers chief also hopes that the luckless Oscar Cortes has suffered a knock rather than anything more serious as the RC Lens loanee aims to avoid yet another lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Philippe Clement gives update on Rangers duo Danilo and Robin Propper
“Danilo will be out [though we do not have] a full assessment yet about that case. Cortes also,” Clement said during his Friday press conference while ruling out Tavernier, Souttar, Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence and Neraysho Kasanwirjo.
“The other players who were not available before will not be available. Jack Butland is still a question mark, but he’s also close to coming back into training with the squad. We will see tomorrow if he can play with the squad and what conclusions to make about that.
“Today, [Danilo and Cortes] are with specialists. I’m not a specialist in those things. We need to hear their assessment first.
“Robin still felt something today but there is a big chance he will be in the training tomorrow. No guarantee yet for medical stuff. But the chance is big.”
After a bright start to life at Rangers last January was interrupted by injury, Oscar Cortes has started a grand total of three matches since returning for a second spell in Glasgow.
“I hope it’s a short-term thing,” Clement says, Cortes forced off with just 25 minutes on the clock in Rangers’ 3-1 win over St Johnstone last weekend. “It would have been ideal that he got minutes in the weekend, and now on Sunday.
“But it’s part of football. It’s unlucky. Football is a sport with duels. He’s a strong boy. He has strong legs. but sometimes you get hard knocks. So, that’s part of football. And like you say, he had a lot of bad luck the last couple of months.
“It’s disappointing for him because he’s somebody with a good mentality, who wants to work hard. Who is ambitious to make the right steps, who showed also good quality in the first weeks that he was here.
“Sometimes, you can have bad luck. And I hope that this is the last part of bad luck for him in his career.”
- READ MORE: Rangers Transfer History 2016-Present
Clement insists Rangers still want to sign Lens loanee Oscar Cortes
Rangers have the option of signing Oscar Cortes permanently from his Ligue 1 employers this year for a reported fee of £4 million.
Clement insists that, despite his limited involvement since that deal was struck last summer, the Gers remain fully committed in making Cortes a full-time member of their squad.
“Yes [we still want to sign Cortes], because the injuries he were nothing to do with the injuries that he had last season,” the former Monaco boss concludes.
“So, those are decisions made by everybody in the club. He has the talent to do [bounce back].”
