Rangers spell out what six youngsters need to do to make first-team impact

A clutch of youngsters such as Robbie Fraser, Adam Devine, Alex Lowry, Bailey Rice, Cole MacKinnon and Zak Lovelace are still at Ibrox after not moving away on loan, yet they are very much on the fringes of the first team.

With Rangers facing a period of seven matches in 18 days, it was put to Clement ahead of Sunday’s match against Kilmarnock what role they can play this season.

"That depends on them, how they show themselves,” said Clement. “It always works from two sides, and for sure from the players' side. So, Ross [McCausland] is a good example of that. He establishes himself in the squad in the moment he gets his chances, and it will be the same with the other young lads.

“And you can put other names also on that, because a lot of them also have been training with us or get minutes in friendly games, like against Dundee, where we played with several young players who train sometimes with us. So, in that way, you cannot make any prediction. It's about what they show on the pitch.

“That's football, that's playing also in the top club. It's not that you can say, ‘OK, we're going to give five games to one player to show themselves’. It doesn't work that way. It's about winning and picking the best team, and three days later, again, the best team in that course of games. So, if they show themselves more and more, they will get the win also.

Asked if that is a challenge Clement has set his young players, the Belgian continued: "I'm not setting them that way. I think every manager in the world is setting that in that way, for sure, in things where you need to win every game.

“Maybe if you can be in a club where they play mid-table and everybody's happy with that, and you win a game, and you lose a game, and you have a draw and everybody's happy, you can, in moments, do more things, but not in a club where you need to win every game. So, you need to show that you're better than the other one. It's normal.”