Rangers pre-season couldn’t have gone much worse than it has been going in recent weeks.
Philippe Clement cut a frustrated figure in the post-match press conference after losing to Birmingham City in which few players emerged with any credit.
The manager is up against it rebuilding the squad and his job has just gotten a whole lot harder with the news that Todd Cantwell has handed in a transfer request to leave Rangers.
Todd Cantwell hands in Rangers transfer request
This means that the club is going to be woefully short of options in the key number 10 role with only Tom Lawrence and Alex Lowry now available for selection as the gaffer explained via Rangers TV and in the post-match press conference:
“Todd Cantwell came to me in my office a while ago, and we have a really good relationship so we talked for [a long time], to say that he feels ready for another adventure and challenge,” he said.
“I spoke for long with him because I think Rangers is a really good club for him and I wanted to give him time also. That’s why in the last couple of weeks I didn’t speak about it. But he came back with the same request. I am going to be focused on the guys who in their heads are focused on Rangers.”
Asked if Cantwell was close to joining another club, the Gers boss replied:
“He has been training with us all the time and played with the second team because of that, we need to focus on the guys who will be here in the next months.”
Rangers turmoil in key position
Ianis Hagi might not be fully fit but he needs to be back in full training as soon as possible.
He is harder working, sharper and more suited to Clement’s system than Lawrence and will be keen to prove a point.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Romanian playmaker could be sold too with Fiorentina said to have agreed terms with Hagi in a £3m transfer.
With Connor Goldson set to leave and Sam Lammers close to a return to the Eredivisie, Clement needs to be given the money to reinvest.
A number 10 has now jumped higher up the order in terms of importance.
Joan Jordan will help to shore up midfield with Vaclav Cerny an upgrade on the right wing – if they can both be signed.
The issue, as it has been all pre-season, is creativity and being clinical in the final third.
Todd Cantwell, signed for just £1.5m, at his best was the perfect fit, we just didn’t see it often enough, finding someone with his ability but with more consistency is Koppen’s biggest task.
