Philippe Clement sign Rangers academy star with over 50 goals in just two years, training with Rangers first team

Philippe Clement sign Rangers academy star with over 50 goals in just two years, training with Rangers first team

Excluding their recent 4-0 victory over Romanian club FCSB in the Champions League, Rangers have been struggling for goals this season.

Philippe Clement’s side, who currently sit third in the Scottish Premiership, have scored just 15 goals in 10 top flight games, which is almost half as many as league leaders Celtic have scored and five less than second-placed Aberdeen.

That lack of goals can be partly put down to injuries – Brazilian striker Danilo has been out with a knee injury since mid-September, while winger Rabbi Matondo has also missed the Gers’ last six Premiership games with a hamstring injury.

Those that are fit, however, have also been struggling for form – Cyriel Dessers, who scored 16 top flight goals last term, has just three in 10 games this season and none in his last seven. Meanwhile, club captain James Tavernier, who was Rangers’ top scorer last season with 24 goals in all competitions, has scored just once this campaign.

Findlay Curtis now training with first team

Amid his side’s goal crisis, Clement has now promoted one of Ranger’s most promising young forward talents, Findlay Curtis, to first-team training.

Clement was on hand to watch the 18-year-old winger score twice in a Rangers B team game against Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Challenge Cup last month, and, according to reports, the youngster is now training regularly with the first team.

Curtis, who has scored over 50 goals since the start of the 2022/2023 season, is also understood to have traveled with Rangers on their pre-season tour of Holland earlier this year.

“Definitely on the radar of the first team,” Four Lads Had A Dream wrote of Curtis on X this week.

Curtis bags hat-trick against Partick Thistle

This week, Curtis was again among the goals for Rangers B, netting a ten-minute hat-trick in a 5-0 Glasgow Cup win over Partick Thistle. He scored his first shortly after Ianis Hagi had given the Gers the lead, rounding the Partick keeper and slotting home into the empty net. He added his second just moments later, before completing his hat-trick in the 88th minute with a neat finish.

Speaking with Rangers TV after the game, Curtis, who joined Rangers when he was just six years old, said he was “delighted”.

“We were ruthless in the final third and I’m buzzing off the hat-trick,” he said. “I want to keep on scoring goals and getting my numbers up this year. I burst into the penalty box to get that third and fortunately it went in.”

Curtis added that he hoped Clement was watching and taking note: “I’ve scored 12 goals and got two assists in my last 15 or so games. It’s good and it’s just about getting my numbers up.

“The manager at first-team level always talks about his wingers getting in-behind, getting to the back post, and scoring goals. That’s what I’m trying to do and hopefully he recognises that.”

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