The Ibrox boss has just raided the Scandinavian’s star factory to pinch Mohamed Diomande. The highly-rated Ivory Coast Under-23 isn’t coming cheap, with the deal set to cost Gers £4.3million this summer when an initial loan is made permanent. The 22-year-old midfield prospect’s new boss is convinced it will be money well spent, with the big Belgian believing the deal should generate a healthy profit in years to come.
However, Clement has confessed Gers’ chances of keeping pace with their rivals at home and abroad will go bust if they continue relying on others to rear their first-team troops. Nordsjaelland have had no trouble on that front thanks to a tie-up with the famed Right to Dream academy in Ghana.
The agreement allows the Danes to recruit some of the best young African talent before moving them to Europe, where they are regularly moved on for huge returns. They’ve made millions thanks to RTD graduates like Mohammed Kudus and Kamaldeen Sulemana, now starring in England with West Ham and Southampton.
The deal that has seen Diomande join Gers could yet be dwarfed this month if his former teammate Ibrahim Osman’s £18million switch to Davie Moyes’ Hammers goes through. And Clement reckons it’s an example the Light Blues must follow.
“Of course,” he said. “That’s one of the parts I have been talking about also with the club.
“From the first day I stepped into the building they knew about that and it was one of the reasons, also, that they finally chose me. I have always been busy with the development of young players.
“Look at Genk where we had Leandro Trossard who was a young player who came through. Sander Berge was another young player who went to Sheffield United. Jhon Lucumi we got as a young player at 18 from Colombia. Joakim Maehle is at Atalanta now and he was also a really young player.
“There was a lot at Brugge as well. In Monaco we had Aurelien Tchouameni and Axel Disasi and other young players coming through and developing.
“So it’s an important thing because you cannot survive as a club if you only spend. If you don’t make profit the club cannot survive. So we need to find a model that turns a profit out of transfers.
“It’s crucial because you cannot survive as a club in Europe, where things are evolving, if you don’t have that model. You need to get players in and after a period of time sell them for profit.
“You either do that or you need to have an investor who puts crazy money in every year. We are not a club like that so we need to have a transfer model to grow.
“If you don’t grow you go backwards because there are other teams that are growing in Europe. And in the league also. So you need this model, it’s really clear.”
Clement has a clear vision for how Diomande is going to fit into his team. The new signing is still waiting for his visa application to be approved by the home office, meaning today’s lunchtime Premiership clash with St Mirren in Paisley will come too soon.
But the Ibrox gaffer can’t wait to get his new midfield gem involved. “Diomande is someone with a lot of versatility,” said the Light Blues boss.
“He can play in defensive midfield, he can play offensive, No.10, six and eight. He’s even played left full-back or left winger, so it’s someone with good technical qualities and a lot of running capacity. That’s the interesting thing, he has discipline in his game to be able to play defensively, but he’s also got a creative side.
“I don’t yet know when he will be able to play. Like I said I first want to see his physical abilities and how he is.
“He needs to adapt to the group and to the way of playing, everything. He is a signing who is not here for the next month, he is here for the next few years.
“It’s about how fast he takes the steps. It’s not like he comes in and just gets his place in the team – no, you need to perform for that. You need to show that on the training pitch and you need to show that in the games.”
While Diomande is checking in at Ibrox, Steven Davis is checking out after deciding to hang up his boots. A devastating knee injury has denied Clement of the veteran Ibrox icon’s influence on the pitch. But he hopes he’ll be able to make use of it around the training ground after extending an invitation to join his back-room team.
Clement – who spent a few weeks working alongside Davis after the Northern Irishman’s brief spell as interim boss – said: “Honestly, I don’t know Davo that long but it was intense already because you step into a new club.
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