Rangers Europa League squad sees two Ibrox stars worth combined £7m axed as attacker suffers fresh injury blow

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has selected a 21-man squad for the Europa League group phase - with two notable absentees failing to make the cut.

Clubs are permitted to submit a list of up to 25 names for UEFA competitions, providing that eight players fall into the ‘homegrown’ category. However, the Ibrox boss has only four stars who fall under that banner - goalkeeping duo Liam Kelly and Lewis Budinauckas along with midfielder Connor Barron and defender John Souttar.

And with the Light Blues not able to select four players over the age of 21, Clement has taken the shock decision to leave out crocked pair Danilo and Rabbi Matondo, with the former suffering yet another injury blow after reports confirmed the £6 million Brazilian forward has been forced to undergo a second operation on his knee that will keep him on the sidelines for around a month.

Danilo missed a large chunk of last season after requiring surgery on his damaged knee last December, just a few weeks after fracturing his cheekbone in a match against St Johnstone. He returned for pre-season and had been steadily building his way back up to full fitness but has now been hit with another major setback on his road to recovery.

According to the Rangers Review ithe 25-year-old ex-Feyenoord man has gone under the knife again and will take at least four weeks to nurse his way back. It leaves Clement short of options in attack, with current first-choice Cyriel Dessers shouldering much of the responsibility. That could open the door to new signing Hamza Iganame, who made his long-awaited debut for the Ibrox club in the 3-0 Premiership defeat to rivals Celtic at Parkhead.

The news comes after fans recently expressed fears around Danilo's fitness when he was spotted limping ahead of the Champions League qualifying defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. Clement dismissed rumours of the player carrying a knock, stating last month: “Dani always has that kind of walk - look from the moment when he came into the club. I’ve been watching him for a long time. I wanted to get him to Brugge when he was at Ajax and wasn’t playing there and he had that walk also at that moment so nobody has to worry about that. There’s nothing going on with him.”

Matondo, meanwhile, was forced to withdraw from the Wales squad earlier this week with a hamstring strain picked up in the Old Firm drubbing. Frozen out playmaker Ianis Hagi is not included after being told he won’t play for Rangers again by Clement, while Ross McCausland and summer signing Clinton Nsiala are also omitted. Youngsters Leon King, Bailey Rice and Alex Lowry all feature on the B-team list.

Rangers Europa League squad

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Liam Kelly, Lewis Budinauckas

Defenders: James Tavernier, Ridvan Yilmaz, Robin Propper, John Souttar, Dujon Sterling, Jefte, Neraysho Kasanwirjo, Leon Balogun

Midfielders: Oscar Cortes, Connor Barron, Mohamed Diomande, Nedim Bajrami, Kieran Dowell, Nicolas Raskin.

Forwards: Cyriel Dessers, Tom Lawrence, Vaclav Cerny, Hamza Igamane