Philippe Clement has admitted new signing Rafael Fernandes is "not directly ready" to play for Rangers.
The Ibrox club landed the Lille centre-back on loan for the remainder of the season with an option to buy.
However, Clement has suggested Fernandes is not immediately ready to make an impact in the Rangers starting XI having barely played last season.
🎙️ Pre-Match: Philippe Clement spoke to @RangersTV ahead of today’s match against Fraserburgh. 📺 RangersTV subscribers outside the UK can watch the match live: https://t.co/4hJ08vAyDn pic.twitter.com/eRGzl893uP
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) January 19, 2025
Fernandes was watched by the Rangers scouting department during his time in Portugal but he has had limited game time since making the move to Ligue 1.
Clement, therefore, has tempered expectations for the defender as he revealed his plan to test the player before making a decision on the option to buy.
"I am very happy that we believe in his potential," said Clement on Rangers TV. "He is not somebody who will be directly ready, he played almost nothing in the past year.
"But the scouting team saw him play the year before in Portugal, I saw also several games from then.
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"He is showing great attributes, he's fast, has good passing, is powerful and is young and athletic.
"We had good information from Lille from players who were training with him so I think in the circumstances where we had to look for players he will be a good signing.
"We have him now for six months on loan and we can test him and see how he is a person and see if he will be ready for Rangers in the future.
"We believe in his potential and now we have six months to look at that and if we all agree that he has that potential then we have the buying option."
