Philippe Clement tips Oscar Cortes for 'good Rangers career' despite injuries
Last updated 17th Jan 2025
Philippe Clement is confident that luckless Oscar Cortes will go on to have a "good career" at Rangers despite the Colombia cap suffering another spell out injured.
The 21-year-old moved on a short-term loan to the Ibrox outfit from French club Lens on February 1, 2024 before sustaining an injury in March which kept him out for the rest of the season.
A season-long deal was signed last summer with an obligation for the Govan club to buy for a fee reported to be around £4million, with Cortes set to sign a four-year contract through to 2029.
However, more disruptions have followed the former Millonarios attacker.
He injured his knee in the first game of this campaign against Hearts at Tynecastle on August 3 and did not return until September 15 against Dundee United, before soon picking up another injury.
Cortes returned to action at the end of December but yet another problem kept him out of the 3-1 William Hill Premiership win over Aberdeen at Ibrox on Wednesday night, and he will also miss the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fourth-round tie with Highland League side Fraserburgh at Ibrox on Sunday.
Clement believes Cortes will come good.
"Yes, because the injuries that he had afterwards had nothing to do with the injuries that he had last season," said the Belgian boss, who hopes defender Robin Propper shrugs off a knock.
"The decision made by everybody in the club is that he has the talent to do it, when his physical state will be in a good way. So he needs rhythm for that, he needs training for that.
"We all know that he has the football qualities. He has the right mentality, he has the right vision, also the overview in the final third, where it is very important to have this composure.
"He showed all of that, so I don't see any reason why he would not make a good career here at Rangers.
"I hope it's a short-term thing. It would have been ideal that he got minutes on Sunday, but it's part of football. It's unlucky. Football is a sport with duels.
"He's a strong boy. He has strong legs but sometimes you get hard knocks, so that's part of football, and he had a lot of bad luck the last couple of months.
"I'm disappointed for him because he's somebody with a good mentality, who wants to work hard, who's ambitious to make the right steps, who showed also good quality in the first weeks that he was here.
"Sometimes you can have bad luck and I hope this is the last part of bad luck for him in his career."
Brazilian striker Danilo, who came off against the Dons, will also miss out again. Keeper Jack Butland has returned to training after a leg injury.
Dujon Sterling, John Souttar (groin), Neraysho Kasanwirjo (knee) and Tom Lawrence remain out.
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