Who is Issame Charai? The new Rangers assistant who helped catapult Hamza Igamane to stardom

The Belgian revolution at Rangers continues as promising coach Issame Charai has been named Philippe Clement's No.2.

It wasn't so long ago it looked a long way back for Clement but four domestic wins on the trot and passage to the Europa League knockout phase (despite a narrow defeat to Manchester United) have got him out of the dog house for now. And in one of the biggest signs of faith in the manager yet, it appears he is being allowed to bring in a new assistant manager – and on a three-and-a-half-year deal, no less.

The Belgium-born 42-year-old, who has also worked on the coaching staff with the Moroccan Under-23s as well as OH Leuven, Mechelen and Beerschot, will replace Andries Ulderink. The former Royal Antwerp coach joined Gers last summer but has now returned home to deal with a family situation.

Charai will now join Stephan Van Der Hayden, Alex Rae, Brian Gilmour and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart on Clement's staff.

So who is the new man? And what does his arrival mean? Record Sport have taken a deep dive into his life and career to find out.

Born in Merksem to north of Belgium, Charai had a reasonable if unremarkable playing career as a striker. He made his breakthrough with Berchem in the early 2000s, scoring consistently at regional level under manager Marc Brys – a man who would go on to define his career as a coach.

He steadily rose through the leagues and, after his 15 goals fired Mechelen to top-flight promotion in 2007, he made his breakthrough into the Juliper Pro League as a 25-year-old. But he only ever scored twice in the top league – once for Mechelen and once for Sint-Trudinese - and by 2012, after suffering from a few injuries, he decided on retirement to focus on coaching at just 30 years