PHILIPPE CLEMENT has reflected on a positive week-long training camp for Rangers as they now make their return to Scotland.
The Light Blues are back in Scotland having spent the past seven days in the Netherlands as they ramped up preparations for the start of the new campaign.
Speaking to RangersTV to look back on the week of hard work for the squad, which included testing friendly matches against both Standard Liege and Ajax, the manager commented:
“It has been a really good camp, good circumstances as we had everything for ourselves here so nobody to bother the players in between training or anything.
“It was really good for the group, for the new lads to come in and to be together for 24 hours a day and seven days long.
“It was a really good atmosphere and they worked really hard.
“In between they took the treatment with the physios, all the facilities were here to do that, we had good pitches to train.
“The weather was most of the time really good, one day it was raining a lot but ok that is part of it and we had two really interesting friendly games.”
The boss has given an update on the team’s transfer plans ahead of the run to the beginning of the campaign, as he highlighted the importance of being patient and everyone being ‘aligned’ with regards to business.
He continued: “It is crucial and I know for fans it is a little bit like playing football manager or the PlayStation so you think everything is possible but at the moment that is not the reality.
“I think the most important thing is that everybody aligned about the plans.
“The board, recruitment, me and the staff, about what profiles we need to grow as a club to become better.
“In not only short-term, but also long-term, that is an important thing that people need to also understand.
“There are several older players who left the club, who are not at their peak anymore.
“Like Jon McLaughlin, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack and they are replaced already by young talented people, who do good things already.
“Like I said last week also to the journalists there are some who are more longer-term.
“Like Clinton Nsiala, he will not be ready directly from the start and you have others who can step in directly but will grow and become better the next couple of years.
“Like Connor Barron and Jefte, so those are all different things.
“I think the best example in that way is [Mohamed] Diomande, he came in January as a young talented player who can grow in this club.
“Who can be important, who will be important and if you seen the game on Saturday for me he was the best player on the pitch against Ajax from the two teams.
“Those will be the players who will be big assets for the future, that one moment you can sell them and because of that you can raise your budget, so those are things we need to look at.
“Not only short-term, but long-term and everybody is aligned about that and that is a crucial thing.”
The Belgian has spoken on his first pre-season in at the club having joined the Gers in October 2023 and he insists everyone will be working hard both on and off the pitch to best prepared for the season getting underway.
He added: “It has been good, quite similar than with the other teams.
“I have been in these pre-seasons a lot of times and this way of working and the expectations from outside.
“You know everybody expects that all the new players would be in now and when I was young or younger and I was the managing for the first time I was also nervous about that.
“Now I know that it is not possible, for sure with the Euros, so you need time.
“We have been looking at a lot of players in the last weeks and months, had a lot of talks.
“Some deals we could do, some deals not and everybody is also working hard on that.”