Philippe Clement admits Rangers have two recruitment scenarios dependent on their progress in the Champions League qualifiers over August. 

And, speaking in Lublin on the eve of the first leg of Rangers’ third-round tie against Dynamo Kyiv, Clement revealed that Ianis Hagi will be one of the players leaving Ibrox over the course of the next month.

Rangers have already brought eight players to the club this summer as Clement and recruitment director Nils Koppen attempt to restructure an inflated wage bill and rebuild an aging squad. However, only two of those summer arrivals, Oscar Cortes and Connor Barron, were in the starting line-up last Saturday as Rangers drew 0-0 with Hearts to kick-off their 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign.

Read more: Check all the Rangers transfer news & rumours throughout the transfer window

Robin Propper and Vaclav Cerny have arrived in the last fortnight, while Connor Goldson and Sam Lammers have departed. Clement previously stated that the club must sell before buying to enact the second-half of their summer recruitment strategy, bringing more experience into the building.

Rangers will make up to £4million if they reach the Champions League play-off round, with the winners of FC Twente and RB Salzburg standing in the way of significant Champions League riches.

“Yeah, of course, it's a big world of difference. But you cannot count on that. It's a long road to take,” Clement said when asked if the club had two different plans for the remainder of their summer window based on their progress in the Champions League.

“It's four really important games that you need to win or to qualify in. So it's a big road. So let's focus now on the first leg and to get a good result towards the second leg and to focus all on that. That's what we need to do now and not to look where we are in September.

“It's now the beginning of August. We need to get the best out of the situation now. That's very important. It could really vary what you're trying to do at the end of the window. That's why you need to be prepared for the two scenarios. Also in your talks with players, it's really clear that in some cases it's only possible when you get Champions League money.

“But like I said, if you see all the teams that are playing to qualify for this, there's a lot of quality in that. So we need to be really top in the four games to qualify. We know that.”

Rangers fell at the final hurdle during last year’s qualifiers when they were convincingly defeated by PSV over two legs in the play-off round. While Clement has emphasised the importance of giving his team time to gel this season in recent days, the Belgian retains a confidence in their chances based on what he saw last season on the continent. Rangers defeated Real Betis 3-2 to top their Europa League group stage before a narrow 3-2 aggregate defeat against Benfica.

“Of course we want [to reach the Champions League], and we're going to do everything for that. But the Europa League is not a disgrace, for sure. It can be really nice, like we saw last season,” he said. 

“We were really close, very close. It was a small detail that we went out against Benfica. They sell now a player for almost 100 million. It was a really good team that we played against, and the team played two really good games against them. So, it was a nice journey in the Europa League.

“But of course everybody wants to be in the Champions League. For the club, it would be a big difference, for the players also, because they get better paid in the Champions League also, so they like that more! And it's the biggest stage in the world, so you can play against the best players in the world. But I think all the European competitions evolve that much that also in the Europa League, you have really, really big games.

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“Even in the Conference League, at the end stage, you can have really big games. So, playing in Europe is always exciting, but of course everybody wants to go to the Champions League because it makes a big difference financially, and you only have top games there.”

This has already been a summer of change marked by outgoings at Ibrox with Goldson, Ryan Jack, John Lundstram and Borna Barisic all exiting. And Clement confirmed that another player from the Steven Gerrard era, Hagi, will leave the club for new pastures over the course of the next month following talks between the two parties.

The 25-year-old, who recently featured at Euro 2024 for Romania, initially joined the club on loan from Genk in early 2020 before a permanent transfer that summer.

Asked if the playmaker was in his plans this season, Clement said: ”No, we had clearly talked with him before the pre-season already, and with his agents, about that. We need to look, like I said, at a lot of things with the club, about wages, about how many players you can have in a position, with the budget we have, and to get a budget to make transfers. It was really clear that the idea is to sell. That's what he wanted also. So, that's the clear situation.”

Meanwhile, Clement stated that new centre-back Propper is fit for the game but tempered expectations surrounding the 30-year-old. Propper joined from FC Twente last Friday and was in the stands against Hearts having not yet trained with his new teammates.

“He's fit, but of course you come in and there's a lot of things to do in that moment,” the Rangers manager added.  “I think Brexit didn't help in that way, and I know from experience, you have to fill in so many papers to come into Scotland and to live here. You need to find a house and you need to find a school for your kids. There's a lot of things going on in his head also this last week, because he's just a few days with us. So that's something to take into consideration for the game tomorrow.

“It’s the same thing with Vaclav. He had a four-week holiday and he has now had four days of training with us. So it's with them looking at what is the right moment to start with him, what is the right moment to let him come in.”