Rangers boss Philippe Clement has confirmed the club will play a behind-closed-doors friendly in Spain as part of a warm weather winter training camp.
The Belgian manager was talking ahead of the January break, where Philippe Clement hopes to hammer home his ideas for the squad and firmly put his imprint on the team.
The Rangers training camp will be at La Manga, which is based on the Mar Menor in Murcia, Spain.
Rangers have routinely used warm weather training camps over the years with Steven Gerrard taking his players to Portugal and even Dubai.
Rangers to play friendly at Spain training camp
Philippe Clement will be hoping the trip to Spain isn’t like the other winter training camp of recent years, in so far as Rangers have pretty much collapsed every time they’ve come home from one.
Rangers post winter-break – save for the 55 season – has been a long-standing joke and if the Belgian wants to force an upturn in fortunes he’ll need to start here.
The Ibrox boss also touched on the Ibrox friendly with Danish side FC Copenhagen ahead of the trip to Spain, whilst there is no mention of who the club’s training camp opponents will be.
“Everything is arranged,” said Clement. “That was also one of the things in the six weeks. We are going to Spain for one week.
“We are going to play a game there, and we are planning to play a friendly game here on the way back. It will be in La Manga and the friendly will be closed doors.”
Philippe Clement has high January hopes
Whilst Rangers manager Philippe Clement has been clear there won’t be big changes in his squad this January, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t got high hopes for the month.
As the games come thick and fast, Rangers are currently embroiled in a frustrating injury crisis which doesn’t seem to be shifting in Glasgow.
Philippe Clement has been speaking recently about his hopes to get some consistency and build greater resilience on the training pitch but also about his hopes of building a greater connection with his players.
All of this revolves around the warm weather training camp in Spain when the Belgian boss will finally get an extended chance to implement his ideas.
“(Getting to know everyone is) going to be a very important thing when we go on training camp in January where I always take time to do individual talks with players,” said Clement.
“It’s going to be hard work in training and evenings, with the staff together with the players individually. To really get to know them.
“We are six weeks here, a lot has happened already, getting people in like a Director of Performance and Recruitment, it was also aside from all the things that happened during games. But I get to know the club and the players better and better.”
Rangers will be heading to their training camp in Spain for one week after the game splits in Scotland from 2nd of January.
The club return to action on the 20th of January, when Rangers will face Dumbarton in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup.
