Rangers transfer approach must bring Champions League jackpot or buy-now-pay-later manoeuvres leave mighty bill

There's only one way to shop when you can’t spend big and that’s to spend smart. Rangers’ attempt at that now seems to involve spending later.

The problem, though, with operating on the never, never, is that if those signings don’t work out, all you’re doing is storing up trouble for later down the line. Philippe Clement has been frank and honest about the need for Gers to think outside the box as they wrestle with the financial realities that follow on from Celtic pinning down another £34million Champions League bounty.

“We know we have less money than our competition because they have more money and they have Champions League money now,” he said last month. “So we need to be more inventive, the recruitment needs to be more inventive. If your opponent has more money and can spend more you have to work better. That needs to be the challenge to make things better.

“We have to find better players for cheaper prices. It’s not always the player that costs more who at the end has the highest value. It’s challenging. The bigger the pool is where you can take the best fish out. Our pool is smaller, so you have to be sharper. We need to work better, all of us, to make the next steps.”

So it’s with that in mind that Gers have agreed to take Oscar Cortes back on another 12 month loan from French outfit Lens, but on the strict understanding they will only pony up for Colombian winger next summer. They’ve kicked the final fee - rumoured to be in the region of £4million - down the road after confirming an obligation to buy the 20-year-old, who will sign a four-year deal once his switch is made permanent.

It’s the same strategy Clement had to employ back in January after checking into Ibrox, only to discover Michael Beale had blown