Philippe Clement reckons Rangers have a ‘rough diamond’ in Hamza Igamane.
But the Rangers manager believes the young Moroccan talent isn’t the only player who’s taking his game to the next level at Ibrox.
Philippe Clement was being quizzed on the form of Hamza Igamane after the 22-year-old hitman scored his first goal in Scottish football in the 6-0 rout over Kilmarnock.
And the Belgian is clear that if the clearly talented Hamza is going to reach the next level, then it’s going be through hard work and hard work alone.
It comes with Rangers taking a gamble on the young striker after Philippe Clement was warned that the transfer might’ve been a year too early for the hitman.
Hamza Igamane a ‘rough diamond’
”I spoke with a lot of people before bringing him in Morocco,” Clement told the press after the win over Killie. “I’m lucky that a few people were working there that I knew from before.
“They said ‘it’s a rough diamond, we don’t know if he’s going to be ready from the start, maybe in one year he’s going to be ready to play’. That was the thing that they said.
“But we saw the potential and we went for it because that’s also what the club needs to do now. We spoke about that before the season.
“We come out of a period where the club the last couple of years didn’t have any assets to sell, because of that it’s difficult to make transfers.
“So we need to make players better, who can go to a higher level. We will see with him.
“So I cannot say with anybody in the squad if they can go to the next level, it’s going to be about them if they keep this hunger or desire, but I’m going to be really tough on that and maybe sometimes you need to put somebody also on the bench to create this hunger and desire again, what happened with some players the last couple of weeks.
“That’s part of football and that’s my job to do. But he’s doing really good things.”
Rangers striker not only one impressing at Ibrox
Philippe Clement claims that Hamza Igamane isn’t the only player in the Rangers ranks who is pushing to become better and better.
The Ibrox manager claims Rangers defender John Souttar is another shining example, and a different character, who is grabbing the Ibrox bull by the horns this season.
In some encouraging comments, the Rangers boss also discussed Hamza Igamane settling in Scotland and claims Ibrox teammate Nicolas Raskin has been taking on an important role.
The young Belgian also impressed in the 6-0 hammering of Kilmarnock and is becoming an increasingly visible leader in the team.
“I don’t know if you saw the interview with his translator, who helped us really good in the beginning because even his French was minor,” said Clement.
“Now I can speak in French with him that he understands things better. Nico Raskin is also helping in the meetings to translate that.
“So it’s a totally different world for the young boy, but he’s taking the steps really well. Why? Because he has hunger and desire to become better every day.
“He is an example but I spoke about that. John Souttar is also an example in that way. Different characters, different players in that way in the dressing room and I can speak about more players like that.
“The more we have like that, the better we will become and it’s with all staff to work hard with them to make them better.”
