The 49-year-old Belgian penned a three-and-a-half year deal on Sunday to become Rangers’ 19th manager and the ex-Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco coach says the sporting project at Ibrox convinced him moving to Scottish football was the right move. Clement was wanted by Saudi Arabian Pro League outfit Al-Shabab, with a reported £100k-per-week salary on offer, while other clubs in Europe had approached him since leaving Monaco in the summer.

"[In the] last couple of weeks, months I spoke with several clubs in Europe and outside of Europe,” Clement said. “This felt like the best project and the thing I was looking for, a club with a lot of passion, a real club with a lot of fans. The people I met were very passionate about it. There were several concrete options that were financially better but that’s not the important thing for me. I want a project and to build something together with the people of the club.”

Clement met with former Rangers manager Graeme Souness during the first round of talks and said his input provided more information about life at the Ibrox club. “It's true Graeme was there in the first talks to go in-depth about football, the details of the team and the fans about what people expect and later on there were several other people involved,” Clement continued in an interview with Sky Sports. “It was interesting for me to get more information about the club. I spoke to Thomas Buffel, who was a long time player here and knows it really well. In that way I gathered enough information to make a good decision.”

'Several concrete options': Philippe Clement turns down lucrative offers to take charge of Rangers