£3m ace admitted Rangers wanted to sign him last summer, he hasn't started a game since

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Seldom has Rangers’ frontline looked more stacked with options than it is right now.

Philippe Clement started the season with Cyriel Dessers’ name nailed onto his team sheet. Now, with Danilo back fit and Hamza Igamane proving his doubters wrong, the Rangers number nine has slipped from first to third-choice in a matter of weeks.

Ahead of Rangers’ trip to Dundee on Thursday, does Clement stick with Ianis Hagi on the left and Nedim Bajrami through the middle? Or does he shuffle his pack – the Belgian has spoken frequently about the importance of rotation – and hand either Oscar Cortes or Rabbi Matondo the chance to stake their claim for more regular minutes after returning from the treatment table?

But in terms of attacking depth, relative to the quality of the rest of the league, you will find few examples in European football which stand out quite as dramatically as PSV Eindhoven compared to their Eredivisie rivals.

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Couhaib Driouech turned down Rangers for PSV Eindhoven

On any given day, when all are fit and available, PSV coach Peter Bosz can call upon Johan Bakayoko and Noa Lang – internationals for the Netherlands and Belgium respectively – as well as the vastly-experienced, former Champions League winner Ivan Perisic.

Malik Tillman – the former Rangers loanee – has ten goals already this season while operating largely from a left-wing role. Only a year-and-a-half since his impressive spell in Glasgow came to an end, Tillman is being labelled the Eredivisie’s most complete attacking talent.

As such, with Tillman, Lang and Perisic all competing for that left-sided spot in Bosz’s front three, a player who would stroll into most other Eredivisie XI’s has had to settle for a largely backseat role since his £3 million arrival from Excelsior last summer.

Couhaib Driouech had his pick of the clubs after a breakout 2023/24 campaign. By his own admission, Rangers came calling for Driouech. As did the reigning Portuguese champions – then under the stewardship of Ruben Amorim – and a team who have dominated the Europa League scene over the last 15 years.

"There was a lot of interest, and also very concrete. Rangers, Sevilla and Sporting Lisbon came in,” Driouech told Voetbal International in July. “Those are absolutely all beautiful clubs, in beautiful leagues, but I wanted to go to PSV.”

Understandably, so.

PSV automatically qualified for the Champions League last season, unlike Rangers. They offered a clear shot at silverware, unlike an underperforming Sevilla. Furthermore, they also allowed young Driouech, a graduate of the Heerenveen academy and Dutch-born despite representing Morocco at youth level, the chance to continue his development amongst the familiarity of those home comforts.

But, as became apparent during his first few months in Eindhoven, the one drawback to joining forces with PSV is that, with Lang, Tillman and Perisic for competition, minutes are somewhat scarce.

Driouech has not started an Eredivisie or Champions League game yet

Driouech is still awaiting his first PSV start. A wait that will go one for some time now, after he suffered an ankle injury just before Christmas.

All nine of Driouech’s Eredivisie appearances have come from the bench. He’s played just 51 minutes of Champions League football. And, furthermore, Bosz has not ruled out bringing in a replacement should Driouech face an extended period out of the side.

“I really don’t know yet. We have to wait and see how long this [injury] will last,” Bosz said recently. “I’ll have to have that discussion with Earnest [Stewart, director].”

The worst-case scenario, for Driouech, is that PSV opt to bring in a permanent addition. And, when he returns to fitness, he finds himself even further down the pecking order than he was at the start of the campaign.

Though if you had told the Rangers supporters a few months ago that Hamza Igamane and Ianis Hagi would be two of the first names on Philippe Clement’s team sheet come January, they would not have dared believe you.

Igamane’s sudden rise to prominence, and Hagi’s Rangers renaissance, should remind any footballer in Driouech’s position of the importance of patience.