Philippe Clement says signing young players key to Rangers getting resale value

Rangers manager Philippe Clement stressed they were on the right path to securing better transfer income amid disgruntlement over the fees received during a summer clear-out.

The club revealed in their most recent annual accounts that the total value for the transfer of five players after the end of June was £800,000.

The Ibrox board were quizzed over the figure at the club’s annual general meeting on Thursday amid disbelief from shareholders.

The sum relates to the exit of five players – Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Scott Wright and Robby McCrorie. Other players such as Ryan Jack, John Lundstram and Borna Barisic had already departed at the end of their contracts.

Clement stated that factors such as wages had been an issue in negotiations when asked if shareholders and supporters had a point being unhappy with such a low figure.

And he declared that signing younger players – as Rangers did in the summer – was the key to getting better value in the future.

The former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss said:  “That’s a hard one for me to say because it’s not my job to do that first.

“Secondly, there’s also maybe something to do with the wages that players were earning here and every player is the same, you always want to earn more and more and more and not to reduce your wages so maybe because of that (with) some players.

“And that’s the dangerous thing because if I say one thing then you guys take everything of all that group the same way.

“So every story has its own thing, some were older, some were maybe earning a lot of money that other teams don’t want to pay that, because of that it’s clear that the players were not really big in the market, that everybody wanted to sign them.

“So that creates also (a situation), that you have less leverage in those negotiations.

“But what is one of the major things to be marketable as a player, to have players where other teams want to invest in, what is the first thing important in that way? Age.

“Because if you sign a player at 28, 29, 30 years old and you give him a contract for two, three years, four years or five years then you don’t have added value.

“It was the same in Monaco, Brugge the same; they changed the system in that way, getting younger players in.

“So it’s a logical thing. In that way it’s more difficult to sell players who are at a certain age, so those are things you need to take in consideration also.”

Clement revealed that long-time injured wingers Rabbi Matondo and Oscar Cortes had returned to full training ahead of the William Hill Premiership game against Ross County on Sunday, and would be monitored ahead of the trip to Dingwall.