Despair for Clement as new injury blow cripples options

After being an unused substitute against Celtic on Sunday Danilo has undergone a knee operation in Holland and is wearing a knee brace.

In July 2023 Micky Beale completed the £6m signing of the striker from Feyenoord as he put the finishing touches of his Champions League plans while taking the treble from Celtic.

PSV Eindhoven killed off the Champions League dream in a 5-1 defeat in the Netherlands with the Beale Revolution killed off when a depleted Celtic won 1-0 at Ibrox a couple of days later.

Phil Clement got a few goals out of Danilo in his fortunate start to life at Ibrox but a knee his good fortune ran out with a knee twist away to Hearts in December that brought his season to a halt.

Once again the Lawrence Shankland speculation came to nothing with the current Ibrox boss bringing in Hamza Igmane from Morocco to boost his strike options.

With no club prepared to match the wages that Cyriel Dessers is picking up the former Cremonese has by default become the first choice striker, news of further surgery for Danilo reinforces that with Igmane the only alternative as the run of twice weekly fixtures get under way.

After the Europa League squad was announced the Rangers Review was chosen to apply some comforting spin to the news on Danilo:

The Brazilian has returned to Holland for rehabilitation following the surgery and was pictured at Glasgow airport wearing a brace on his leg. The Rangers Review understands the procedure is not thought to be serious and Danilo will return to training with Philippe Clement’s side in the coming weeks.

Danilo spent several months on the sidelines after sustaining a serious knee injury during the Premiership clash with Hearts at Tynecastle in November. He endured a lengthy recovery schedule before joining Clement’s side in Holland at their pre-season training camp.

The 25-year-old scored his first goal of the term in the win over Ross County last month. His game time has been limited, however, and he will now work through another period of rehab before challenging Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane – who made his debut at Parkhead on Sunday – for the main attacking berth in Clement’s side.

When Kieran Dowell, Tom Lawrence and Oscar Cortes are included in the Europa League squad ahead of Danilo it doesn’t look good for the £40k a week Brazilian striker.

The former Feyenoord striker has a contract running until May 2028 which is a massive drain on the Ibrox payroll, at least Dessers, James Tavernier and Tom Lawrence are out on the pitch even if their contribution is minimal.

The Europa League campaign starts away to Malmo on September 26 which will bring back pleasant memories to most Scottish football fans.