Will is there for big Rangers rebuild - Clement

Rangers "need a big rebuild" but manager Philippe Clement believes "the will is there in the club" to bring about the necessary changes.

The Ibrox side are Scottish Premiership runners-up for the third season running, with Belgian Clement having replaced Michael Beale in mid-October.

He secured the League Cup around two months after his arrival but their league title challenge all but ended with defeat at Celtic Park last Saturday, with Celtic confirming their third straight Premiership success in midweek.

Clement believes "the foundations" of his squad "are not good enough to play at high intensity three games a week" and suggested: "That's one of the reasons for so many injuries."

"We have a month of August with nine games," he explained. "Two qualifying rounds for Champions League and five [Premiership] games. A really, really tough start. I did it before with Brugge.

"We need a big rebuild, so that's even more challenging than it was before.

"We're about almost everything aligned. Second step is to do it, of course. You can have amazing plans but you need to execute them. I'm really convinced that the will is there in the club. Everybody's really engaged to make things better."

Abdallah Sima and Ryan Jack could play some part in Rangers' final Premiership fixture of the season away to Hearts on Saturday, while Leon Balogun may also return following injury.

Rangers will then have a week before they face holders Celtic in the Scottish Cup final.

Balogun and Jack as well as Borna Barisic, John Lundstram and Kemar Roofe are out of contract at the end of the season.

Sixteen-goal Sima is on loan from Brighton and when asked about a permanent move for the forward, Clement said: "That's about us, him and Brighton. We were really happy with what he showed.

"We see in him somebody with potential to grow. He's very happy in this building but there is a club that is his owner so you need to find an agreement. You don't know what way that will go. It depends what their demands are and what we can pay.

"We are, as a club, in some ways at the end of a cycle so we need to change some things and I want them to end this cycle with a really big moment next week on Saturday."