Philippe Clement snaps at Neil Lennon as Rangers boss insists he's HAPPY to hear criticism from Celtic cynics

Philippe Clement insists he’s glad Neil Lennon took a pop at his players – as the former Celtic boss has saved him a title team talk.

The Belgian hit back at claims from the ex-Hoops gaffer his Rangers squad doesn’t have the mentality to go the distance with the Parkhead men in the fight for the Premiership crown. Clement is set to seal a £4.5million deal for Mohamed Diomande from Nordsjaelland but revealed loan star Abdallah Sima will be out long term after getting crocked at the AFCON with Senegal.

The Belgian insisted Gers are still in solid shape as he snapped back Lenny and said: “I am happy people outside of the club help to motivate my players. I now need to put less time into that myself. The players have showed a lot of mentality in the last couple of months. Even at Celtic Park with 10 players, they did that. So we cannot speak about mentality in that way until now. We just need to confirm that in the next six months.”

Clement knows the heat will only get turned up in the run in but he said: “I want players who are motivated by themselves. Players with internal motivation. I want to see winners and winners don’t care about what people are saying.

"They just want to win and have the desire to win themselves. And I see that more and more players reacting in that way. We are. Not busy with noise.”