Rangers recruitment plans outlined by Mohamed Diomande deal – Celtic Matt O’Riley blueprint is utopia for many clubs

Rangers recruitment plans outlined by Mohamed Diomande deal – Celtic Matt O’Riley blueprint is utopia for many clubs

Philippe Clement laid it all on the line when it came to

how much Rangers stands to gain from Mohamed Diomande’s signing.

The Belgian went so far as to say that the Ibrox club’s very survival as

a power in European football is dependent on the Ivorian’s success.

Clement would never openly compare the 22-year-old to Celtic’s Matt O’Riley,

but with the loan-to-buy £4.5 million purchase from Nordsjaelland,

the club expects the midfielder to become a Rangers version of the latter.

Their rivals this week rejected a proposal from Atletico Madrid for the 23-year-old,

who, barring unforeseen circumstances, will be sold for more than £25 million this summer.

In that case, O’Riley will become the latest poster boy for the trading model

that many teams in smaller markets seek as a nirvana,

having only been signed from MK Dons two years ago for a fee of £1.5 million.

Rangers must nurture Diomande to become an asset valued similarly to O’Riley for a fee three times that,

with Clement emphasizing the importance of putting such prospects on this route for Rangers’ future success.

“It’s crucial because you cannot survive as a club in Europe,

where things are evolving, if you don’t have that model,” he said.

“You need to lure players in and then sell them for a profit.

You either do that or have an investor that puts in a lot of money each year.

We are not a club like that, thus we need a transfer model to grow.

If you don’t grow, you’ll fall behind other teams in Europe.

And in the league, too. So you need this model; it’s really apparent.

“The entire club makes an appraisal of what he [Diomande] is worth now and what he may be worth in the future.

So it’s a longer-term investment in that sense.

We had several nice conversations, and I believe he is convinced because of the club,

the supporters, the project, and the way he works and grows as a player.

“We agree on that, and it is now up to him to demonstrate that in the short term,

as well as in the long term. In Scandinavia, the winter break is longer,

so he hasn’t played competitive football in a while.

We need to assess his physical condition and get him back to his best as soon as possible.

That is also a reason why one of our performance coaches is there now with him.

He doesn’t have his Visa just now, but we don’t want to waste time.”

Clement revealed that Diomande was on his possibles list when he was in charge of Monaco,

and sees the “versatile” player – who can “play in defensive midfield offensive,

no.10, six, and eight” and has “even played left full-back or left winger” ,

as demonstrating the strength of his selling Danish club’s academy and African scouting network.

Any completely trading model must be two-pronged,

involving the polishing of diamonds that have been both purchased and raised from within.

Clement believes his impressive performance on

that front played a significant role in Rangers’ choice to hire him three months ago.

“That’s one of the parts I have been talking about also with the club,” he added.

“They were aware of this from the moment I went into the building,

and it was one of the reasons they eventually chose me.

I have always been involved in the development of young players. Consider Genk,

where we had Leandro Trossard [now at Arsenal] as a young player who broke through.

Sander Berge was another promising player who moved to Sheffield.

Jhon Lucumi, a talented Colombian player, joined us at the age of 18.

Joakim Maehle is presently at Atalanta, and he was a very young player.

“There was a lot in Bruges as well. In Monaco, we had Aurelien Tchouameni, Axel Disasi,

and others young players coming through and developing.

So it’s an important thing because you cannot survive as a club if you only spend.

If you don’t make profit the club cannot survive. So we need to find a model that turns a profit out of transfers.”

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