Philippe Clement opens up on Rangers squad 'imbalance', why full January plans aren't in place yet and what can add 'stature' to club

The Ibrox side take on Aris Limassol on Thursday evening knowing that a victory at home will prolong their involvement in the Europa League beyond the group stage. Clement has been keen to foster a winning mentality among the squad of players he inherited from Michael Beale and believes success on the Continent will form a key part of that.

He said: “Being in Europe after January is an important thing for the club, for the players also. Everybody likes to play with all Europe watching these games. As a club, it’s also important to have good European results because it adds stature to your club. I want ambitious people in the building. I want to create winners. And winners are, for me, people who always want to win. Not one competition, or two. They want to win everything they do, they want to win in training.”

Clement revealed he would like to redress the “imbalance” of the squad but said he would need the next month to fully assess what needs to be done in the January window. “How long have I been here now? Five weeks? It is still five weeks at least until January so I am only halfway on the journey to really make good decisions around that,” he said. “There are a few players that I didn’t even see yet on the pitch to play games or who have trained two or three times in the five weeks.

“To make a clear opinion about all the squad, it is not realistic to do it now for the moment. Of course we have ideas and we have talked about that and we are looking at things as a club because there is also an imbalance to the squad. In some positions we have a lot of players and in others some not. Those are things to look towards for January and the rest it is going to be very interesting in the next five weeks how all the players will perform.”