Philippe Clement opens up on Hamza Igamane's time at Rangers: no English, poverty escape and never any fear

Clement brought Igamane to Rangers last summer in a £1.7million deal from AS FAR in his homeland of Morocco. He went on to score 16 goals in his sole season at Ibrox and was sold at the end of last month to French Ligue 1 outfit Lille for £10.4m.

Igamane scored two goals on his debut for Les Dogues a fortnight ago and he also netted his first two goals for Morocco earlier in September. He is expected to play a key part for both club and country this season.

Igamane’s final weeks as a Rangers player turned sour when he refused to come on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw against St Mirren. The 22-year-old claimed to head coach Russell Martin that he was suffering from injury. He was sold six days later to Lille.

Nevertheless. his time at Rangers was a success and he flourished under Clement, who explained how he evolved at Ibrox and what sort of character he is.

Speaking to French media outlet L’Equipe, Clement said: “At the start, he was a bit raw, we saw that he had never followed a proper formation, and he played a little bit like he would with friends at school. But he showed he had technical and mental qualities.

Igamane’s thirst to learn at Rangers

“It’s tactically that he progressed the most at Rangers. He had a lot of scope, he was already developed physically and progressed well in duels, and he had the stamina and speed. And even though he didn’t speak any English and not great French, he had a lot of intelligence and a thirst to learn.

“He was never afraid, never nervous. In his first start in the Europa League against Nice, under a lot of pressure, he had a very good match, two goals and an assist. But he showed nothing [in terms of emotion]. He was all the time on an equilibrium, calm, smiling. We saw that he had escaped poverty thanks to football and he profoundly loved that, material things don’t interest him very much.”

Igamane has also spoken warmly of Clement ahead of this weekend’s Lille match Toulouse. “At Rangers, it was Philippe Clement who helped me progress a lot,” the striker said. "With his help, I was able to show the best of me at Rangers. I had confidence in my abilities.

"I was very hopeful that the Lille president would find an agreement with Glasgow Rangers. I went through that period calmly. I was mentally strong and with God's help, we were able to complete the transfer so I could be here.”