Clement outlines Diomande deal and provides Rangers injury update

How pleased are you to get the Diomande deal over the line?

Everyone is really pleased about that because he is one of the biggest prospects in Scandinavia so there were a lot of teams interested in him. He is still a young player but he has a lot of experience also and has played more than 100 games for Nordsjælland, who are a good team who have brought several really good players into the rest of Europe and the top competitions. It is a team that everybody follows so it is not easy to get a player towards Rangers because there is a lot of competition. Dio was really interested in the project, we had a lot of talks about that and it is a signing for short but also for long term. That is not easy to do in January. I am delighted that the club could do that.

How do you see him fitting into the side?

He is someone who is really versatile. It is a good technical player with a lot of running capacity. He is still developing his strength so I think we can make him stronger here. He is really fast, he is agile, he is creative and he can play disciplined. He can do the 6 or 8 role, he can do the 10 role. He has played even at left full-back or left winger at moments. It is someone who wants to do everything for the club, he is just 22 and is already vice-captain at Nordsjælland, so that means also something. We have heard a lot of good things about him.

Does the outlay show the confidence you have in him and his potential?

Of course, otherwise we wouldn’t do it. The club has made a good effort to make this transfer possible. It is a process, not only from me or from Nils or the scouts. Everybody in the club is m convinced he can have a good impact in the club in the short term and in long term is one of the players who is able to grow bigger than Rangers and in that moment make the next step.

Is this type of transfer you are hoping to do going forward?

I don’t want to talk much about the past, it is the same working now with the boys as a coach and a manager and with a way of working. It is clear that almost every club in the world is busy with getting players in that they believe in, that have the potential to grow at their club and become better and in one moment sell them. We don’t have an investor who invests every year crazy money into the club every time. We are not a club like that so we need to build a model to gain value out of the players that you bring in or that come out of your academy. And to do intelligent moves at the right time. That needs to be the model for the next couple of years and not getting players out of contract, for example, and we have talked about that in the past. It is important that the club earns money through transfers and can grow in the future. Everybody is working for that.

When do you hope to have him here?

It is not so easy to come into Scotland or England these days! A few years ago it was easier. It will be the next couple of days, depending on the visa. Everything is arranged. We are waiting for that. 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 since he played competitive football. There will be a bit of a delay in his physical status at the moment compared to the players here because they have had better preparation. We will see when he is here what his level is at the moment and then bring him to his best level as fast as possible.

What statement does it make that Rangers have lured him here?

We are not busy making statements, we are just busy making good business for the club for the short term and also for the long term. I am not somebody who is only thinking about the short term, I never did at all my clubs. At all the clubs I have been, they won more money than they spent. Maybe that is not a good thing and we need to change that for the future! It is an important thing in a model these days to stay a healthy club and we need to build a healthy club again. I am one of the pieces in how the club needs to develop and I try to help in the best way. Of course I need to think about short term also, we need to win games otherwise I am the first who will be in the way.

How did you sell the club to Mohamed?

I sold the club how the club is, with all the values and those are a lot. We talked about that. We talked about the way of working, we talked about the past and developing young players to make the next step and that is a good story of players who made a good step out of that. He felt a connection. We are also looking for players who are ambitious, who want to work really hard, to develop and become better. I think then we are in a really good place. It was around that.

Does your involvement in Europe help in that sense?

It was one of the parts, but it is a lot of things. It is the fans, the stadium, the ambition of the club, the way of working, the team-mates. If we were playing bad and the team were playing bad, it is more difficult to get players in. It is a lot of things together.

Do you see Diomande as a starter?

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's not one player who can say, 'I'm a starter for the next three months.' It's about performances, we are here to win things together so it's about performing every time. Of course, players who did it three/four months in a row, they get some credit, that's also logical. But it's about looking every day at the performances of the players and then to pick a team and a bench to win that game because that has also been really important in our football if you see how decisive our substitutes have been in the last couple of months. We also have to look towards the games to come and making choices so there are no guarantees for anybody.

What can you say about Steven Davis' legacy?

Honestly, I don't know Davo that long but it was intense already because you step into a new club. I asked the club to continue working with the staff that was here to get to know everybody which was important for me to get to know the club really fast. There was no time to waste, we didn't have a preparation of six weeks so we needed to make the right decisions directly. Davo helped in that way a lot together with Alex [Rae], Brian [Gilmour] and Colin [Stewart]. We worked really well together then one moment he decided he wanted to remain a player and he wanted to do his rehab and come back in a good way so he did that for a few months and now he made the decision to stop. Like I said yesterday, my staff is always open if he wants to come back one day because I liked the way we worked together and he's a legend of the club. He is somebody who is a leader by example towards your dressing room so those are always interesting people to have in the building. Is it with the staff in the first team? Is it with the academy? We will see in the future but I think at this moment Davo wants a little bit of peace and quiet and take a little bit of time with his family to decide things. I told him yesterday he's in a luxurious situation where he can decide what he really wants in his life. Whatever choice he makes, he can try things. Maybe he'll try something and he doesn't like it, maybe his second choice he doesn't like so he can go for his third choice so it's an interesting period. I've been in that period also when I was around his age. I stepped into something that I liked directly so I was lucky in that way. I've seen others who've tried different things and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a good place to be, he needs to take it that way in a really positive way.

How are Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin?

They are both ready for selection.

Any other injury updates?

The same players remain out. With Kieran [Dowell], Ben [Davies], Kemar [Roofe] and Dani and one thing to add to make a clear update otherwise I look silly. I said Alex Lowry came back and our idea was to put him on loan because it's important for him to take playing minutes like he took at Hearts in a good way in several moments and to continue that story but he came back with an injury that we didn't know. He will be out for the next six to eight weeks so it's going to be really difficult to send him out on loan. It's a surprising story for myself to get this information now, not before because then I didn't give you guys the right information.

Did Hearts not say that he had an injury?

Yes but not that it was this severe.

What type of injury?

You know with the rules of privacy you need to watch out not to say a lot so I didn't speak with Alex about that. It's not something that will damage his career but he will be out for six to eight weeks.

Do you anticipate all the players in the squad will still be here at the end of the transfer window?

I wish I had a crystal ball, that would be nice, like every manager wants. I don't know if there is somebody coming in with £20m for a player then maybe he goes. I don't know, I cannot say that. I'm just focused on today, on the next game and to win the next game with all the players who are here in the building. We're working hard on that so we will see in the next week.

Are you still hopeful of bringing in more signings?

It's possible, yes. Everybody's working hard on that.

Were Hearts always allowed to send Alex Lowry back to Rangers?

I don't know those details because I was not in the building when this decision was made. Honestly, I cannot respond in a good way to that. It's going to be different in the future but I was not in on the deal.

Is it a frustration for the player?

And for us also towards him because it's an important year for him and he made some good steps. He's a talented player. It was an interesting thing to go to play there to get minutes to develop so we are all disappointed for Alex and also for ourselves because it was the ideal scenario to let him play one year and to make a good assessment how it was. To have him in the preparation, to see how that works and now it's going to be difficult. Also with the squad we have for the moment, it's going to be difficult to give him minutes here. It's not the ideal situation but it's now for him to work hard in his rehab and then to come back and push and try to show his level in the training although there will be a lot of competition.