'It's important': Philippe Clement urges Rangers ace to emulate £27m Arsenal star amid transfer speculation
Yesterday at 10:30 AM
Rangers boss Philippe Clement has plenty of experience when it comes to developing, and eventually selling, young talent.
Almost every club in the Belgian top flight – including Clement’s old employers KRC Genk and Club Brugge – operate on a sign-low, sell-high transfer policy. One which revolves around bringing in exciting prospects on the cheap, honing their potential, and then cashing in for a considerable profit later down the line.
Philippe Clement would then spend time at Monaco – the club who perfected such a model with the likes of Bernardo Silva and Fabinho – before taking over from Mick Beale in the Rangers dugout back in late-2023.
And with Chelsea now casting their eyes of Rangers left-back Jefte, Clement finds himself in a very familiar position.
Philippe Clement explains why Chelsea target Jefte must stay at RAngers
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Union Saint Gilloise in Glasgow, the Belgian insists that Jefte is already in the right place to continue his progress.
Chelsea – the London giants are in discussions over Corinthians starlet Denner too – would be a classic case of ‘too much, too soon’.
Even such luminaries as Kevin de Bruyne, Mo Salah and Romelu Lukaku – the first time round – struggled to make their name amid hefty competition for places at Stamford Bridge. And while Jefte may fancy his chances up against Marc Cucurella, Rangers’ £400,000 man still has a lot to learn, particularly in the defensive side of the game, before he takes his crafty left boot south of the border.
“100 per cent sure, yes,” Clement told reporters when asked if Rangers is still the best place for Jefte to develop. “Maybe one day, if he makes a normal evolution, I think one day he will be ready for [a club like Chelsea].
“But, for the moment, it’s too early. And I think this is a really good place for him to develop. So he’s totally not busy with all these rumours, totally not.”
Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard should be an example to Jefte
Clement oversaw the development of the likes of Leandro Trossard and Sander Berge at Genk. The former is now at Arsenal, via Brighton, while Berge moved to Fulham after spells at Sheffield United and Burnley this summer.
Trossard had three years in the Genk XI, scoring 22 times in his final campaign. Berge departed having played over 100 matches for The Blue and Whites.
Jefte, in contrast, is only 34 games and a few months in his Rangers career, with Clement highlighting the importance of timing when it comes to making big-money transfers to more high-profile destinations.
“That is not something new. I had the same in Genk,” Clement recalls. “Trossard could have left also earlier to go to the Premier League. We had talks with him about that, about staying. Also other players, like Sander Berge.
“So it’s important to do the right step at the right moment because you see also a lot of players making a step higher and not being ready, and they’re losing themselves because they’re not playing afterwards because they were not ready.
“In was the same in Bruges with players. It was the same in Monaco with players. So it’s not something new. I have experience around it. I’ve been speaking with players around that also.
“I understand one moment when it’s a good situation for the club and the player [to move on]. It’s not the nicest thing as a manager, but you need to let them go also. And you need to be proud of them that they can make that step. So we will work in the same way at Rangers, in a similar way that we did before.
“For [Jefte], it’s the best way to stay here, whatever comes.”
