Philippe Clement has confirmed that there are multiple Rangers players still at the club who have already been informed they should leave.
The Gers boss responded to a question in his 16 August press conference to admit that with such names still in the building it is making it harder to make signings before the transfer deadline.
Clement could not say whether Leeds United-linked Rabbi Matondo will be leaving but did accept that it remains important to sell in order to buy before 30 August.
The Belgian said, via Joshua Barrie on X: “Yes that is the case, and some of them know it already [for a] really long time, and they’re still in the building.
“So that makes things more difficult but it is what it is. I cannot put a gun to their heads to get them out the building, that’s also not the idea.”
Ianis Hagi is a more controversial example of a player who the manager has already publicly stated can leave [Rangers Review, 5 August], despite Sky Sports reporting on 12 August that the Romanian wants to stay amid stand-out performances for the B Team.
He is set to earn a £6,000-a-week pay rise if a clause in his contract is triggered [Daily Record, 13 August] and seemingly looks to have been frozen out of the first-team picture on 99 appearances, amid links to a Fiorentina move [Digi Sport, 26 July].
Matondo is one of many squad options who have shown flashes of quality but far too infrequently, but whether he is one who knows he is supposed to go is unclear.
The likes of Ben Davies, Kieran Dowell, and Scott Wright would all fall into that category, as would Tom Lawrence, but the latter two have combined for seven starts already under Clement.
Whether that is due to a lack of other options or because he sees particular value in them remains to be seen, but if there are players at the club who are supposed to leave but haven’t the manager looks stuck.
Cyriel Dessers was another who was said to be available this summer [Rangers Review, 3 July], but widespread interest hasn’t translated into bids on the table [Chris Jack, 7 August], and even if it did there is currently next to nothing in reserve with Danilo short of fitness and Hamza Igamane yet to even be named in a squad.
So with two weeks left before the deadline there is a clear need for that time to be extremely busy, but it doesn’t sound like that will come easily.
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