Nicolas Raskin dealt Rangers injury blow as Philippe Clement confirms midfielder is out for up to SIX WEEKS

Rangers have been dealt a hammer blow after Philippe Clement confirmed that midfielder Nicolas Raskin will be out of action for up to six weeks.

The Belgian playmaker limped off in last Saturday's 2-1 friendly defeat to Ajax after being on the end of a crunching tackle from Dutchman Branco van den Boomen. Raskin, 23, left the stadium on crutches, and after the game Clement admitted that the player's injury was a real cause for concern.

And the 50-year-old has now put a timescale on when the ex-Standard Liege man can return, with Raskin now set to miss the Light Blues first three Premiership fixtures of the campaign and both legs of the crucial Champions League third qualifying round. Speaking to the club's official website, he said: "I expected it to be worse if I saw him straight after the game but still it is a really bad injury, bad timing also because we are going to miss him in the beginning of the season that is clear."

James Tavernier has been heavily linked with a move to Turkish side Trabzonspor, but the Gers boss also revealed that his captain and Todd Cantwell are close to a return to action. Clement did however note that summer signing Hamza Igamane is not quite up to speed in Govan just yet. He added: "James Tavernier is getting better, he is close to training with the team, and Todd [Cantwell] is training with the team but is not ready to play with the first team so he will play with the second team on Saturday.

"For Hamza [Igamane] It is a massive change of culture, the life here, the way of training, the way of working, and the language also so we have an interpreter here to translate for him. He is behind the others for the moment, and we are working with him individually to make him stronger before we