Rangers don’t quite need to sell to buy, however, Philippe Clement will want to clear the decks of players who he feels aren’t good enough or who he can’t rely on.
The manager also has to make room in his squad because of how imbalanced it is which will be one of the hardest tasks facing him and recruitment director Nils Koppen this summer.
Clement will also want to avoid a repeat of the last two seasons when 11 players have left Ibrox at the end of their contracts with no money coming in to reinvest.
Rangers need to stop letting players leave for free
The Gers boss has spoken about this situation in the past and knows that the club must find a way to avoid it happening again:
“This club comes out of a financially difficult situation. It’s not a good thing to have six players out of contract so they don’t have any value to sell and then you need to make decisions if they stay or not.
“The club needs for the future to get also money in by producing or making players better, to get young players in and to make them better that you can sell them later on.
“But also for sure out of academy, getting players and producing players that can be starters in the first team.
“That needs to be a model that we will build the next couple of years. It’s not the work of one week or two weeks or six months or even one year or two years.
“It’s an important thing and in that way it was important that we gave chances from the beginning to Ross (McCausland) so he could be also a symbol for the Academy.”
Scott Wright could be close to Rangers exit – again
One of the four players whose contracts expire at the end of 2024/25 is Scott Wright who nearly left last summer to move to Turkey, going as far as to give an interview on Sky Sports, speaking as if he had played his last game for Rangers.
Linked with Sheffield Wednesday this year, The 4th Official has claimed that a deal could soon be agreed:
“My understanding is that, that is a deal close to completion and that may well be completed over the next 48 hours or so.”
Wright has had some big moments for Rangers, however, consistently, he simply isn’t good enough and his status as a home grown player should warrant keeping him around.
As Clement said, the academy must be the main source for these players, and there should be several in and around the first team next season.
With Fabio Silva and Abdallah Sima back at their parent clubs and only Oscar Cortes signed, Rangers are short of options in wide areas.
This shouldn’t have any bearing on selling Wright though, a player who was worth the punt but who has never truly taken any of the many chances that he has been afforded.
