Philippe Clement inherited a Rangers squad that lacked balance and, in particular, with too many players capable of operating in the number 10 role.
Only Sam Lammers has been sold, with Tom Lawrence starting the two competitive fixtures so far of 2024/25 almost by default.
Alex Lowry hasn’t fulfilled his obvious potential and both Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi are up for sale, however, all of them are still at Rangers and fully fit.
Todd Cantwell spotted on his own at Rangers training
The manager isn’t quite cutting his nose off to spite his face, but his squad is weaker as a result of the decisions that the players have made.
Hagi has been posting pictures of his efforts at Auchenhowie whilst there has been an update on the future of Cantwell.
Rangers posted their weekly training video with Cantwell seen lurking in the background.
The 25-year old isn’t injured which makes his absence even more frustrating.
Lawrence simply doesn’t have the mobility or dynamism that he once hand and both Hagi and Cantwell could make a difference.
The latter in particular would bring more pace to a fresh looking attack with the additions of Jefte and Vaclav Cerny making an immediate impact.
Clement has more than offered the olive branch to Cantwell already though:
“A while a go, Todd came to my office to say he wanted to look for another adventure and to make another step,” he said.
“We had a long talk, because we have a good relationship. I told him to think really well about that because Rangers is a fantastic club and that I would give him time.
“But he’s come back to say that that’s what he wants, so I need to focus on the moment, all the players who are here in the building with their minds to play in August, to play the qualifying games and the league games.”
Clement continuing to work with his hands tied at Rangers
Cantwell has been linked with moves to Saudi Arabia and, more loosely, to Turkey too, however, he remains at Rangers, cutting a lonely figure.
The irony is, Clement doesn’t have a shortage of players capable of playing as a number 10, if you include Jose Cifuentes too, he just doesn’t have any to pick.
Interestingly, there was no sign of Hagi in the training videos but he is at the training ground.
He has either agreed an exit, is in the process of negotiations or is training with the B team whilst Cantwell now appears to be doing his work on his own.
No player is bigger than Rangers and, having been offered a chance to rethink his decision, Cantwell shouldn’t be offered another – he’s made his bed.
Clement spoke about needing to find a solution to the problem at number 10, seeing two as gifted as Hagi and Cantwell walking about Auchenhowie must be a source of daily annoyance.
