PHILIPPE Clement has revealed Nedim Bajrami didn’t know the names of all of his team mates when he made his Rangers debut against Dundee United today and predicted the Albanian winger will become influential for the Ibrox club in the coming weeks.
Bajrami, a £3.5m capture from Italian outfit Sassuolo at the end of last month, replaced Oscar Cortes at the start of the second half in the William Hill Premiership game at Tannadice this afternoon.
The Swiss-born forward set up Tom Lawrence, whose early strike ultimately secured a narrow 1-0 win and three vital points for the visitors, for a shot at the United goal during his time on the park.
However, Clement was pleased with the former Grasshoppers and Empoli player’s contribution to a result that moved Rangers to within five points of Aberdeen and Celtic in the table again, and stressed the new recruit will get better in the weeks to come.
Read more:
-
Dundee United 0 Rangers 1: Instant reaction to the burning issues
-
Dundee United manager bemoans players' failure to put in cynical foul
-
Rangers goal hero Tom Lawrence buzzing to play role in Dundee Utd win
“Nedim is just in the building,” he said. “So he had two short sessions with the team. He doesn't even know all the names of his team mates. So he's just here. But we know what kind of player he is, what he can do for the team. He showed some things, but he can show much more still in the future.”
Clement was also pleased with the impact which Hamza Igamane, the Moroccan forward who was signed from AS FAR in his homeland for £1.7m in July, made when he replaced Cyriel Dessers in the second half.
“Like I said when we signed him, it's a big talent,” he said. “We had to do it now because if it would have been one year later, we could never afford that kind of players.
“He's coming straight out of a Moroccan competition, Moroccan culture. Everything is new for him. He was also injured when he came. So it took time to get him more fit.
“And that's what we're going to do the next weeks and the next months, to give him opportunities to grow as a young player. But you see already a lot of good basic qualities.”
“It's the only reaction that I demand, that I expect, he said. “It was a difficult couple of weeks, yes, but that was that one result. And it was a really bad result. But it was a long time before we could get another game.
“I said it before this game, I would have preferred to play three days afterwards. But it was not the case. It was international week, so a lot of players left. So it's not easy to come then to Dundee and to play that way with a lot of players who are new in the building and a lot who have been away with national duty.
“So I'm really proud of the players, what they did today. And you saw already direct back the synergy with them and the fans. So that's a crucial thing also.”
Read more:
-
'Hopefully I can push on': Two Scotland internationals shine in MLS
-
Philippe Clement reveals why Vaclav Cerny misses Dundee Utd vs Rangers
-
Clement tips Raskin for 'big season' at Rangers after injury
Clement added: “That (Tannadice) is a hard place to come to. We knew that United is in a really good dynamic, winning promotion, then after having a really good start in the Premiership and they deserve the points that they have until now. So we knew it would be a hard game.
“We started very well on the ball, with the things that we had done in training. We took the domination of the game and scored a really good first goal. And then you miss a little bit the chance to score a second goal. In the second half, it was more a fight because Dundee United pressed higher and were more aggressive.
“And then those moments we need to be better to score the second goal or the third goal to kill off the game. But there were a lot of positive things if you see how many new players were on the pitch today. We are building and it's getting better week by week.”
