Philippe Clement slams Rangers transfer 'fake news' as two doses of speculation prompt a clamping

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has labelled speculation surrounding the futures of captain James Tavernier and Connor Goldson as “fake news” - insisting the pair are still an important part of his new-look dressing room.

The Ibrox defensive duo have both been tipped to complete moves away from Govan this summer, with former Gers boss Steven Gerrard keen to take them to Saudi Arabia for a reunion at Al-Ettifaq. EFL League One side Birmingham City are also believed to retain a strong interest in Goldson as they bid to seal promotion back to the Championship this season.

Both players came in for plenty of criticism from supporters last term as the club’s title challenge fizzled out towards the end of the campaign, but Clement put their dip in form down to suffering a possible burn out and claims they continue to give everything for the cause, despite uncertainty lingering over their heads.

Asked about both player’s futures at the club, Clement said: “There is a lot of speculation in Glasgow and I have read a lot of things that you say are totally not true. Fake news. But it is part of being in Glasgow. You cannot react to every fake news because then you’ll only be busy with that.

“What I see is that they brought a lot to the club the last couple of years. That they did really good games with me. They also did games where it was less, like all the team. For me they maybe played too much last season or the last couple of years because if you play 60 games nobody is every time at his top shape. They have done all of that for the club, they worked really hard for that. They are not going to play 60 games the season to come now and all the speculation around them is the same speculation that you can have around every player. It is the same for us.”

Clement also explained why Tavernier and Gers team mate Todd Cantwell sat out of last week’s two friendly games with Standard Liege and Ajax during their pre-season camp in the Netherlands. “James has a small injury, so it’s nothing big,” he revealed. “But it’s too much to train with the squad at the moment. We expect him back at the beginning of next week or the end of the week depending on how it evolves. Every day he is getting better.

“He’s very disappointed he couldn’t train with the team, he’s been a little bit down because he loves to play football and work with the ball rather than the exercises he has been doing. It’s not a nice time, so he wants to be back as fast as possible. It’s three weeks to go (before the season starts) so lets, firstly, bring him back into the training fit and build him up again. Todd was also not ready. We will see what happens in the next couple of weeks. It’s small things with him.”