Rangers rocked by long-term injury as Philippe Clement reveals man who was sick and has say on Ianis Hagi

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has revealed that Feyenoord loanee Neraysho Kasanwirjo is unlikely to play for the club again after knee surgery.

The Dutch defender picked up the serious injury playing for Netherlands Under-21s last month and has not been back to Glasgow since, returning to Rotterdam for treatment with his parent club. He is expected to be out of action for up to six months.

It is a major blow for Rangers given that the 22-year-old was growing into life at Ibrox. The versatile player could operate across the backline and with Dujon Sterling also missing from Sunday’s 1-0 Premiership win over St Johnstone due to a nerve issue, club captain James Tavernier was the only senior fit right-back available in Perth. He played well, forcing Jason Holt to score an own goal on 63 minutes.

Philippe Clement's Rangers team won 1-0 away at St Johnstone. | SNS Group

“The operation for Nana was good,” said Clement, “but he will be at least out for four to six months. So we cannot count on him. We will see at the end of the season how things go. We have an agreement with Feyenoord that he will do his rehab also there. But I stay in touch with Nana, who was really disappointed not to continue the work he's been doing because he loves the club, he loves the dressing room, he even loves the staff - that doesn't happen much!

“So we will see at the end of the season how it will be with him, but we cannot count on him the next couple of months. And Dujon, yeah, that's unlucky because it's not a real injury. It's a blocked nerve. So he has to go to the specialist to unblock it, to get treatment around that. Because of that, he was not available today. We will see if he's available on Wednesday or not. It's not a long-term thing, but those things happen. It's nothing to do with training.”

Clement’s defensive issues were not helped by an issue with centre-half Robin Propper, who was replaced at half time by Leon Balogun. The Belgian revealed that his defence was suffering from both an injury and sickness

“He got a knock on his knee in the first-half and he was struggling with that,” said Clement. “And he's also sick after the game [on Thursday], so he felt really bad. And Leon is ready, we know. So I was in doubt already to start with Leon or not today. We will make rotation also in those positions, that it won’t be the same centre-back every time.”

Third-placed Rangers end the weekend with the gap between them and Celtic still nine points. Clement reinstated both Tavernier and playmaker Ianis Hagi back into his team for this league match following Thursday’s 4-1 win over Nice, with the latter making his first start for the club since May 2023. His clipped ball set up the only goal of the game.

Clement was fulsome in his praise for both players. “Hagi was good on the ball, that he created things, that he worked hard for the team, that he gave the assist also for the goal,” the manager continued. “So that's also an important one for offensive players to get stats. It was positive. But I don't give chances out of nothing, it's because of what he's been doing in the training and the way hecame in against Dundee United. So it's good to have another offensive option because we still miss a lot of players in our offensive third, with Tom Lawrence, with Cortes, with Rabbi Matondo. So it's important that Ianis is there now.”

James Tavernier played a key role for Rangers. | SNS Group

On Tavernier, Clement continued: “He can get all the credit today, for sure. And that's the Tav I want to see, who's decisive on the ball, but he's also decisive in the defensive actions. Scoring the goal is something extra, of course, but you see already if your right full-back is scoring on the goalline, that says also something about the intentions of our team today and how to play.

“So yeah, that's what I want to see the rest of the season. And maybe people from outside, they see at a player's age and they write people really fast off. He showed today that he's still a very important player for this season and that he can make the difference in a lot of games.

Asked if Tavernier is content with his reduced role, Clement added: “Probably not. Like nobody is if they're not playing, but that's part of football. I had the luck that it didn't happen too much with me because I was a centre-back. That's different, but it's part of football. And for sure in modern football, you see it more and more. And this season will be the season with the most amount of games ever in a short period. So we will need this rotation and everybody to be happy in that way.”