View: Clement clearly stranded as exit-linked Rangers player starts v St Johnstone

Philippe Clement has named his Rangers starting XI for the Scottish League Cup match against St Johnstone with Kieran Dowell starting in place of Connor Barron.

The Gers are looking to bounce back from their disappointing Champions League exit on Tuesday [11 August] to Dynamo Kyiv, axing Cyriel Dessers, Ross McCausland and Barron.

Dowell has been linked with an exit from the club throughout the summer and is a surprise selection in the line-up.

Barron has started every match so far this season alongside Mohammed Diomande and, will get a much-needed rest on the bench against St Johnstone still, Clement needs to find options to strengthen his midfield this summer as he resorts to starting the exit-linked Dowell.

Philippe Clement needs signings as Kieran Dowell starts for Rangers

The departures of John Lundstram and Ryan Jack have left Clement scrounging for options in the middle of the park with Nicolas Raskin still unavailable for selection.

Dowell may return to England this month [Chris Jack] and would certainly not be in the match squad never mind starting, if Clement had more options.

The situation at Rangers is becoming more bleak with each passing day, missing out on the £40m windfall from Champions League qualification is a bigger detriment to the club’s success this season than first anticipated.

There are still several players at the club that are up for sale but are yet to be moved on, with less than a fortnight left in the summer transfer window Rangers need to act fast and find suitable buyers for those players.

Until then, the Gers will be stuck in limbo, light years away from challenging Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, and they will host many unhappy and quite frankly not good enough players in the side.

Rangers should ease past St Johnstone even with the changes to the side, Dowell has an opportunity to impress on Saturday and could secure a permanent exit with a quality performance in the Scottish League Cup.

In other Rangers news, a multimillion-pound transfer agreement has emerged for a midfielder the Light Blues have made an approach for this year.

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The post View: Clement clearly stranded as exit-linked Rangers player starts v St Johnstone appeared first on Ibrox News.