Rangers’ injury worries grow as the reported £4m transfer decision is looked at more closely

Philippe Clement, the manager of Rangers, promised fans that players would get hurt after he got his feet under the desk at Ibrox.

It shocked the former manager of Club Brugge what he found in Glasgow: a physically undercooked team that was regularly wiped out by problems.

Rangers have changed the medical staff and the way the club prepares for the season. Clement confirmed that “injury prevention work” has been a big focus this summer, and there was new hope that the club’s struggling medical department would get better.

Rangers had a rough preseason, and just 90 minutes into the new season, there are already signs that the Ibrox injury curse isn’t quite over.

Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images

Rangers get two injuries in a row

Rangers started their pre-season with a friendly match against Ajax. It was great to see Nikolas Raskin in the game.

The Belgian moved to Rangers about 18 months ago, but injuries have made his time in Glasgow, which started out so well, very difficult.

Raskin was the first player to cause concern at Ibrox this season when he went down after a hard challenge in the first half in Holland.

After being told Raskin would be out for six weeks, Rangers fans have heard it all before. He will now return sometime in September. We’re not going to hold our breath.

When Hearts played the first game of the Scottish Premiership season, having Colombian winger Oscar Cortes back in the team was a good sign.

The 20-year-old joined the club on loan in January. He got off to a good start, but an injury in February ended his season at Rugby Park.

In six months, the winger was hurt when he got into a fight with Hearts right back Gerald Taylor right before halftime.

When the kid first came out for the second half, he pulled up before being taken off, and Cortes left the pitch in tears.

We don’t know how bad the injury is yet, but Rangers fans will not be happy if he gets hurt again in the next year since they just agreed to pay £4 million to sign the attacker from RC Lens.

Ibrox’s great utility player Dujon Sterling hasn’t been seen since the 2-0 loss to Manchester United in a friendly, but he might be able to play against Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday.

Can Rangers get their expensive team in shape?

And these are scary signs that Rangers are still a long way from making their team strong enough to handle the tough games in Scotland.

Raskin and Cortes have had trouble adjusting to how tough and physical the league is. That’s about £5.5 million spent on players who haven’t been able to contribute consistently because of injuries.

It’s something that happens all the time in the squad.

But there is some reason to be optimistic, if that’s what you want to call it.

Philippe Clement stressed that many players on the team have finally had a full, physical pre-season after being hurt for years.

Before the game with Hearts, Clement told the press, “We already saw fewer injuries this pre-season.”

“There were a few players who hadn’t played in a full preseason in the past couple of years but did so now.”

“Does that mean we automatically won’t get hurt?”

The body can’t be changed in five or six weeks, so no, that’s not what’s going on. A few of them are already stronger, but there is still more work to be done.

This is about players like Kieran Dowell, Rabbi Matondo, Tom Lawrence, and Ben Davies, who will say they still have a lot to prove at Rangers.

Even though they may finally be healthy, we don’t think they’re good enough to lead Rangers to where they need to be.

That’s true even though Salary Sport says these four players make up about £4.5m of the club’s annual wage bill.

Danilo, a Brazilian striker who wasn’t used against Hearts, has also come back after a long knee injury, but we won’t say anything until he starts playing games.