Rangers aren’t going to have a big transfer budget to hand to Philippe Clement for a summer rebuild, which makes every penny important.
The manager acquired a squad that needs root to branch repair, and there isn’t an area of the park that doesn’t require immediate surgery.
After an impressive start, Mohamed Diomande’s recent performances have raised a red flag with Rangers set to shell out £4.3m for the Ivorian midfielder, will it be money well spent?
Is Mohamed Diomande fee becoming an issue for Rangers?
One of the strengths of the turnaround in form was how quickly Rangers were winning the ball back.
The midfield in particular had started to dominate games when previously they were being run over.
With no Nicolas Raskin, John Lundstram had been paired with a combination of Tom Lawrence, Ryan Jack, Kieran Dowell and, most successfully, Dujon Sterling.
The latter’s pace, energy and physicality saw him make an immediate impression in a role that was new to the former Chelsea player.
This all changed in January though when Philippe Clement brought Mohamed Diomande to Rangers in what was seen as something of a coup.
The loan to buy transfer was different to ones that we had seen in the past and included an obligation to buy, not an option.
Which means that Diomande will definitely be a Rangers playing in the summer.
When Rangers were top of the league, the 22-year old had played a key part in adding a cutting edge to midfield with the manager clearly impressed with what he had seen so far:
“He’s a high potential player, and I don’t think that Rangers will be his last step. No, I don’t think so, I’m sure.
“Of course, you need some luck with injuries in your career, but if he stays out of that, he’s going to make bigger steps because he has talents, but not only talent, but also the really right mentality to work for the team, to be very concentrated, to be very focussed.
“And those are the things you’re looking for when you go in talks with players, you always can see what they can do on the pitch or what they are doing and what you think you can improve.
“But the most important thing is how people are ambitious to evolve themselves and how they want to take in information and work around that and is somebody with really high focus on those things.
“So it’s like a sponge [with] him. He will get better and better. The more information he gets, the more experience he gets, the better he will become.
“I think he can (reach the very top).”
Diomande’s form has taken a dip as Rangers struggle
However…
After missing a couple of games for Rangers with a thumb injury that required surgery, Mohamed Diomande has looked a shadow of his former self.
It has to be remembered that he had only just started pre-season training with Nordsjaelland when he signed and it may be that he has simple ran out of legs.
In his last three games he has lost possession 31 times and made just one tackle.
Playing as a number eight for Rangers, he should be winning the ball back a lot more than once after starting every game.
One of the biggest issues when Rangers started dropping points, was the midfield.
With a 4-2-3-1 system, the two central midfielders need to be everywhere and on top of the opposition.
At the moment, Diomande looks lost and is neither protecting the defence nor creating chances in the final third.
For £4.3m, he should be dictating the tempo of games and be key to Clement’s system and style of play.
There might only be a couple of games left of the season, but he looks spent.
His player ratings of 3/10 against Dundee and 2/10 against Celtic were entirely justified.
If Sterling recovers from injury, he must return to midfield and Raskin’s display against Dundee showed that he has the dynamism that Lundstram lacks.
Hopefully, Diomande’s issue is one that can be addressed with a full pre-season, however, if it can’t, that’s a lot of money for a midfielder who isn’t making tackles and isn’t creating chances.
