Philippe Clement told brutal Rangers transfer reality over rookie recruits as ex star makes Lawrence Shankland pitch

Alan Hutton fears Rangers summer transfer recruits are too young and inexperienced to handle the heat at Ibrox as he made another sales pitch for Lawrence Shankland.

The former full back insists Philippe Clement is under pressure after the way last season ended and after the Belgian’s failure to beat Celtic. Connor Barron became the fourth summer signing with the ex Aberdeen midfielder, 21, joining Jefte, Oscar Cortes and Clinton Nsiala from AC Milan. Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane is set to become the fifth recruit but they are all 20 or 21 and Hutton says they need battle hardened signings.

John Lundstram, Ryan Jack, Borna Barisic, Kemar Roofe and Jon McLaughlin were key in the title win three years ago and Hutton is worried that experience hasn’t been replaced yet. He told Best Online Poker Sites: “They let five players go this year and brought in some players, but they’re all young and inexperienced. They haven’t played in the league and need time to adjust to how intense it is with the fans.

“I thought they should’ve gone for Lawrence Shankland last season and I still think they should go for him this season, but I think they will look for a younger option. Recruitment needs to be better. For me there’s too much player turnover at Rangers, they need to build a settled team like at Celtic.

“There’s so many questions over Rangers this season, will Connor Goldson stay? Will James Tavernier stay? These are top players that may need replacing. There’s a lot of pressure on the manager as the recruitment needs to be right so that they can hit the ground running after last year because of how they finished last season.

“Philippe Clement is under pressure already after how Rangers finished last season, they didn’t beat Celtic in the league and lost in the Scottish Cup final, that’s not good enough and it has to be better.”

The big transfer move of the summer could be yet to come with captain James Tavernier linked with a switch to the Saudi Pro League and Rangers reportedly open to offers, along with Todd Cantwell.

Hutton, a former right back himself, said: “It would be tough to see James Tavernier leave Rangers. You just have to look at his numbers, he’s second top goalscorer behind Cyriel Dessers from full-back. You look at Tom Lawrence and Todd Cantwell, they need to start contributing more. Losing James Tavernier would be a big blow, he’d be very tough to replace. If you’re going to cash in, you must get as big a fee as possible, so you can reinvest it into the squad.”