Amad of Manchester United is challenged for the ball by Oscar Cortes of Glasgow Rangers during a pre-season friendly match between Manchester Unite…Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Rangers ‘unlucky’ injury blow should force Philippe Clement to make Ianis Hagi decision
Rangers can’t seem to go a week without losing a player to injury, a problem that Philippe Clement was keen to eradicate.
Just as Danilo and Ridvan Yilmaz near a return to fitness, Oscar Cortes has been ruled out for “several weeks” in the words of the manager.
With no Rabbi Matondo for the foreseeable future either, there is one painfully obvious solution for Rangers, Ianis Hagi.
READ MORE: The eight games Rangers play straight after each Europa League league phase clash
Oscar Cortes of Rangers is seen at full time during the Rangers v Dundee – Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match at Ibrox Stadium on September 21…
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Oscar Cortes blow could open door for Ianis Hagi’s Rangers return
A front three behind the striker of Vaclav Cerny, Nedim Bajrami and Hagi is well balanced, technically sound and capable of adding numbers.
Hagi scoring another two goals for the B team will surely have made Clement sit up and take notice.
That he has now scored two for the second-string team cutting inside and scoring with his left foot is exactly what Clement has been getting Ross McCausland to work on.
Why not just pick the player that can already do it?
Hagi can also play on the left and go down either side, cutting onto his right would give space for Jefte or Ridvan overlapping.
MORE RANGERS STORIES
He doesn’t have the same pace as Cortes but he can still beat a man.
Cortes just can’t catch a (lucky) break, no sooner has he returned to full training and started to build up match fitness than he gets clattered in training.
Cortes needs a lucky break to kick-start Rangers career
Philippe Clement isn’t concerned that he has a £4m eggshell on his hands though:
“We lost one player with Oscar (Cortes) in the training. In a tackle he got a bad knock and he will be out for several weeks so that is a disappointment.
“Because he was growing back to his best level and showing the player that he was, is and will be in the future. The rest of the squad stays the same.”
When asked if he had any concerns over Cortes’ history since signing, he said: “No, it’s duels. It’s part of football, you have lucky and unlucky moments.
“It was not a crazy tackle but you have duels in football and things can happen and he has been really unlucky in the last couple of months with those things.
“I hope the bad luck for him stops now after this and the rest of his career will be the luck side, but it is part of football.”
Clement is right.
Looking at the three injuries Cortes has had so far, he has been hugely unlucky.
His first, sustained against Hibernian just as he was starting to make an impression, was from going up for a header but the defender didn’t jump.
Cortes landed awkwardly and needed surgery on his hamstring.
At Tynecastle on matchday one, fate was unkind to him once again.
Pressuring a defender, he had his foot clipped and landed on his knee without any time to react or control his landing.
It would appear that the latest set-back is another hard luck story too.
Hopefully, Cortes can return on the other side of the October international break and doesn’t miss too many games.
Even with a positive prognosis, Clement should still be summoning Ianis Hagi to his office with an olive branch ready on his desk.
Related Topics
Ianis Hagi
Oscar Cortes
Related Posts
More in Opinion
More in Opinion
About Us
Editorial Policy
Meet The Team
Newsletter
Contact Us
Privacy
Complaints
Privacy Settings
a proud member of
© 2024 GRV Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved
GRV Media Ltd, 18 Mulberry Avenue, Widnes,
Cheshire, WA8 0WN
Company No. 04155089
