So now that Philippe Clement has effectively made his first 6 Rangers signings, we can slowly start to eke away at the ‘dross he inherited’ argument. From present day onwards, this is becoming his squad, and we will assess what we see on the pitch and on paper.

Clement has now (theoretically) signed, since January:

Fabio Silva, Oscar Cortes, Mohamed Diomande, Jefte, and the imminent arrivals of Jose Cordoba and Liam Kelly.

Silva:

Mince. Horrible signing. A terrible judgement call there and Clement claimed he wanted to make it permanent. Nothing pointed to that one succeeding aside the usual ‘maybe at xxx club we’ll finally see his potential’. His career till Rangers was poor, aside ‘modest’ spells at Anderlecht and PSV. And he reverted to type at Ibrox as well as being a clown of a boy. Good riddance.

Cortes:

On paper he looked great – was very good in Ligue 1. And he matched that on the pitch. Looks a real heavyweight, this is a talented lad who was broken with an injury. This one could be a really, really great signing and we have high hopes for him next season.

Diomande:

A bit quiet, a bit inconsistent, and on paper he didn’t really excite aside the ‘one of the best players in the Danish league’-type rhetoric. We saw in the cup, however, what he can actually do, and we have more inspired hopes for him next season if he can retain that level.

Jefte:

This is where it gets a bit more ‘theoretical’. He’s just 20, and he did ‘well’ in the Cypriot league against some very decent sides. Solid numbers, but it’s not exactly blowing us away like Arthur Numan or even Borna himself did when Ibrox Noise scouted the lad for Rangers and they signed him. Jefte? He’s a bit green around the ears and we hope this is an uncovered gem.

Cordoba:

A Bulgarian league regular, Cordoba has been playing for a club in Rangers’ position – Levski, second best domestically and struggling to strike a title. The player himself is solid, we hope. We’re spending £3.2M on him and he is a Panama international at just 22. Not quite David Weir or Carlos Cuellar, but then, we didn’t really know Cuellar that well when Walter signed him either.

Liam Kelly:

He’s just a backup keeper, unless Butland is sold of course – there’s uncertainty over that. He’s a decent stopper, we always assumed he was being groomed as McGregor’s successor, but it didn’t work out that way and he’s been a bit journeyman. He’s a much, much better goalie than Jon McLaughlin though, and he, McCrorie and Butland, for now, is a solid goalie pool.

Is this the rebuild to win 56?

If we’re honest, it doesn’t exactly shout ‘major signings’ at us or a huge incline in quality. It’s a bunch of players replacing the ones leaving, but not being obvious upgrades on them.

We’re a little sceptical, but then again, the window hasn’t technically opened yet!

Plenty time yet.