Philippe Clement warned the Rangers players, before Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over Dundee, to prepare for the ‘pre-season of their lives’.
There are a few on the Rangers roster, the manager fears, that either cannot or will not ‘play three games a week on high intensity’. As such, this is already shaping up to be a summer of fat-trimming, wage bill-reducing, and weed-removing.
Who survives the cull, remains to be seen. There are certainly a few that look certain to have a big part to play in 2024/25. Ridvan Yilmaz, Jack Butland, Cyriel Dessers, Ross McCausland, Mohamed Diomande, James Tavernier, John Souttar, for instance.
But for every player who appears likely to stick around there are at least two who’s futures are very much up in the air. Kris Boyd believes that there are ‘questions’ to be asked about the likes of Tom Lawrence and Todd Cantwell, despite the latter’s outstanding second-half display in that Dundee fightback.
A summer of change lies ahead for Rangers
The contracts of Ryan Jack, John Lundstram and Borna Barisic are expiring too, the latter duo expected to join Trabzonspir in Turkey.
Former Ibrox hitman Boyd also believes that four players farmed out on loan by Rangers during the current campaign may be the first on Clement’s chopping block.
“There’s a lot more that are still in contracts that Clement will look to move on,” Boyd tells Sky Sports (14 May, 7pm). “(Ianis) Hagi, (Sam) Lammers, (Jose) Cifuentes, (Alex) Lowry.
“They’ve all been out on loan and not really done it. What does the future hold for them?”
Hagi, Cifuentes and Lowry have all struggled to really stand out during spells at Deportivo Alaves, Cruzeiro and Hearts, the latter seeing his temporary deal cut short in January.
Lammers, in contrast, has been a huge success back in the Netherlands with FC Utrecht, scoring nine goals in 17 Eredivisie games since the winter. Utrecht may struggle to stump up the sort of fee Rangers want for a forward who moved to Glasgow in a £3 million deal under Mick Beale, however, forcing Clement and director Nils Koppen to look a little further afield for potential buyers.
Read more: Rangers confirmed signings, transfers in and out, loan exits, releases for 2023/24
A number of departures expected at Ibrox
“You’re then looking at Lawrence and (Ben) Davies. They’ve hardly played. Cantwell, there’s questions about him, and (Kieran) Dowell as well,” Boyd adds.
“With Rangers not winning the league, Clement may have to lose players he doesn’t want to lose.”
“He’s spoken about John Lundstram and not wanting contracts to run down. He’s played nearly every minute. Leon Balogun is another who is content to play a few and then go out (of the starting XI). Sometimes, you need those types of characters.
“The rest, it is difficult to put forward a case to keep.”
