Djeidi Gassama is "not ready" to start for Rangers against Panathinaikos, Russell Martin has confirmed.
The 21-year-old winger - signed from Sheffield Wednesday for around £2.2m - is behind his Ibrox team-mates after a disrupted pre-season.
Gassama will be involved in the matchday squad on Tuesday evening in the Champions League second qualifying round, however, he won't be thrown in from the start.
🎙️ Russell Martin spoke to RangersTV ahead of the start of competitive action at Ibrox on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/AoZUdY4lqP
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 19, 2025
Instead, Martin has revealed Gassama will have to be managed in the coming weeks as he catches up on his fitness following a transfer switch to Glasgow.
"He's a little bit behind in terms of fitness because they went back a bit later than us and the pre-season he has had has been a bit disrupted because he was going to be on the move," said the Ibrox boss in a Rangers TV interview.
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"Not too much, too soon. He is not ready to start the game but he is totally different to anything we have got.
"He is unpredictable, he is a fantastic one v one specialist. He has real individual talent and I think hopefully, well we are convinced, within our framework and team structure he can really stand out and create moments for us that will really be brilliant.
"He has a lot of work to do physically and to get used to the way we are going to work but already his willingness to do that and how hard he is working to catch up on fitness has been really brilliant.
"He will be in the squad, he will definitely be ready for the second game but the first game we might have to manage his minutes and expectations but he is going to help us a lot."
