'He’s not been his normal self' - Rangers player 'struggling' ahead of Olympiacos clash

Philippe Clement doesn’t believe Dujon Sterling is ready to play a full game for Rangers just yet.

The Gers boss was speaking ahead of Thursday night’s [7 November] visit to Greece to take on Olympiacos in the Europa League’s league phase.

Sterling has featured sporadically in each of the past three matches but has not played a full 90 minutes since the 6-0 win over Ross County at Hampden Park on 24 August.

“I’m not sure that he’s ready now for 90 minutes in games,” the Belgian told the Mail Online [6 November].

“He needs to prove that over the next weeks. He’s been struggling for two months with, not a big injury, but something that stopped him from really sprinting.

“He’s not been his normal self, like he was last season. Because of that, he didn’t have the level that he had before. That’s why he played less minutes. Working with the medical staff, we found a solution how to solve it. It’s solved now.”

Rangers edging Dujon Sterling back to full potential

When fully fit and firing, Sterling is an undoubted talent with a lot of versatility who can help Clement through these troubled times.

Too many individual errors have cost Rangers this season and Sterling would be an ideal player to help plug some of these gaps – notably at full-back, where the likes of Jefte have been heavily criticised.

Sterling’s last full 90 back in August saw him deployed as a deep-lying midfielder, helping things tick over in an easy rout on the day.

The 25-year-old’s time at Ibrox has never held him as a consistent starter, with only 11 of his 24 league appearances last season coming as part of the initial XI, and only two Premiership starts to date in 2024-25.

Clement – already plagued by a fresh setback with Tom Lawrence – says the issue with Sterling’s fitness is now addressed, so it will be intriguing to see how his minutes between now and Christmas reflect that.

In other Rangers news, Billy Dodds names the one thing Clement can do to get the fans back onside.

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