MANAGER Philippe Clement has shared his delight at signing ‘one of the biggest prospects’ in Scandinavia after Mohamed Diomande was confirmed as the second signing of the January transfer window.
The Gers boss was speaking to the media at Rangers Training Centre as he prepared his squad for tomorrow’s Scottish Premiership clash with St Mirren. Diomande will not be available for the match as the club await his work permit, but Clement is looking forward to welcoming him to the squad.
He said: “Everybody is really pleased because he was one of the biggest prospects in Scandinavia and there were a lot of teams interested in him. He is still a young player, but he has a lot of experience also. He was really interested in the project here and we had a lot of talks about that.
“It is a long-term signing and that is not easy to do in January so I am delighted that the club could do that. He is really versatile, he is a good technical player with a lot of running capacity, he is still developing in strength, but I think we can make him stronger here.
“The club has made a good effort to make this transfer possible because it is a process not only from me, Nils [Koppen] and the scouts but it is from everybody in the club.
“We sent somebody there to train with him so that we don't lose time, he had a winter break that is longer than ours so it has been longer that he hasn't played competitive football so there will be a little bit of a delay in his physical status compared to the players here because they had the preparation and friendly games so we will see when he is here what his level is for the moment and bring him to his best level as fast as possible.”
On his squad, Clement was asked if he sees Diomande as a starter but insists there are no guaranteed places as he looks for players on form.
He explained: “For me there are no starters, it doesn't work that way. Nobody has guarantees to start not even now after three or four months together. There is not one player who can say I am a starter for the next three months. It is about performances, and we are here to win things together, so it is about performing every time.
“Of course, players who perform three or four months in a row they get some credit, but it is about looking every day at the performance of every player and then picking a team to win that game.
“It is also about picking a bench because that has been really important in our football if you see how decisive our substitutes have been in the last couple of months and to look also to the next games to come in making choices, so there are no guarantees for everybody.
On his team availability for tomorrow, Clement confirmed both Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin are available for selection after being substituted at half-time in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Hibernian.
He continued: “They are both ready for selection. The same players are still out, Kieran Dowell, Ben Davies, Kemar Roofe and Danilo.
“I have one thing to add, I said that Alex Lowry came back and our idea was to put him on loan because it is important for him to play minutes but he came back with an injury so he will be out for the next six to eight weeks.”