Philippe Clement baffled by Rangers injury riddle as boss reveals inquest into 'biggest puzzle' he's ever seen

Rangers boss Philippe Clement revealed he has never seen an injury situation as dire as the one he has inherited at Ibrox but insists it is being dealt with internally as he looks to solve the “puzzle.”

The Belgian has been without a string of players since he replaced Michael Beale and lost Nico Raskin at the weekend with the midfielder unavailable for Wednesday’s trip to Dundee and he has now been joined on the crock list by John Souttar. Luckless striker Kemar Roofe is in Belgium visiting a specialist while Tom Lawrence has returned to training but still short of fitness to feature for the first team.

Weekend goal hero Danilo is back in action but can’t play for 90 minutes yet ahead of the Dens Park clash which will be followed by a huge Viaplay Cup semi-final against Hearts at Hampden on Sunday. Clement’s predecessors Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Beale also suffered from major injury issues in the early part of successive seasons. Beale brought back Dr Mark Waller as Director of Medical and Performance after he left in July last year, after four seasons, to join Leicester.

Asked about the chances of Danilo starting against the Dark Blues, he said: “It’s a good question. We will see tomorrow. He is ready to play but we will see what is important in this game and if it is necessary that he starts or that he comes in. It depends on the opponent, but he is not ready for 90 minutes which is logical - but yeah, that is the difficulty for the moment. Its is quite a puzzle.

“It is the biggest puzzle I ever saw with all the injuries and players out. I need to say one thing more, John Souttar will also not be available with a muscle problem. Not a big one but still not available for the game. We have started with a lot of