Rangers to be 'very busy' in transfer window as Philippe Clement vows to challenge Celtic by 'building the house'

Rangers boss Philippe Clement has assured fans that the club remain “very busy” in the transfer market, while the Belgian admitted the door will “always” remain open to wantaway Todd Cantwell should he have a change of heart about his Ibrox career.

The Gers have made eight signings so far during the transfer window, with goalkeeper Liam Kelly, defenders Jefte and Clinton Nsiala, midfielders Mohamed Diomande and Connor Barron, wingers Oscar Cortes and Vaclav Cerny and striker Hamza Igamane all joining the Ibrox club. However, a number of players have also departed Ibrox, with senior players such as John Lundstram and Borna Barisic leaving on the expiry of their contracts, while speculation continues over the long-term futures of captain James Tavernier and fellow defender Connor Goldson.

Cantwell is another contracted player expected to depart after he told Clement revealed the playmaker desires a fresh challenge, with the ex-Norwich City man said to be attracting interest from Cardiff City. But regardless of the 26-year-old's situation, Clement believes there will be more incomings as he assembles a team capable of challenging Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title.

“We made really good steps in this pre-season,” Clement told Sky Sports. “In many ways that people don’t see because they don’t know the past, or don’t know the details. We have five or six players who over the past few years have not had a full pre-season - they have now. That is a big step forward for them. We have players coming out of injury that lost a lot of last season, like Danilo and Oscar Cortes. They are in a positive way and have done all the training we planned to do with them. We’ve fixed things, for sure. Not everything, but you can not do that in five weeks. That’s impossible. We almost didn’t have injuries in pre-season, we had an unlucky one with Nicolas Raskin with a bad tackle. There’s a few minor muscle things, but nothing major, which is a big step forward.

“We have new players coming in with experience, of course they need to learn more and get the team better. We are still very busy in the transfer market. I’m convinced (Vaclav) Cerny will be a really important signing. The recruitment team has been working hard with us and the board. Everybody is aligned about what to do. But the when, you never have control. I’m convinced we can have a good start to the season. I will put all my effort on that (Rangers winning the title). That’s what we need to do. We know there’s (Celtic) is a small renovation, with a few details and they can build on their core. We have a big rebuild, so let us first make a good foundation of this rebuild, of our house and let us build our house in the next couple of weeks, next couple of months. Then it will be much stronger than it was six months ago.

Reports last week claimed the Belgian boss would launch a bid for Hearts hotshot Lawrence Shankland in the window after raising funds from the sale of Sam Lammers last week, but Clement refused to be drawn on the player, saying: “That name comes up a lot, and also other names. It stays the same, I will never speak about rumours or about players we’re playing against. So nothing to say on that.” He did, however, refuse to close to door on midfielder Cantwell. “I kept the door open all these weeks, because it is already a while ago that he came the first time,” said Clement. “As long as a player is here and we believe in his qualities - the door is always open. But, of course, we need to focus on the guys whose minds are completely in the club and the results in next couple of weeks. We will see.”

Rangers start their season this Saturday with a trip to Hearts, kick off is scheduled for 12.30pm.