New blow for Clement as he loses out on cut price striker

After weeks of speculation about a £6m raid on Rapid Bucharest to sign Albion Rrahmani it seems that Phil Clement is set to miss out on another key transfer target.

The Kosovan striker was given the full treatment with every aspect of his game glorified from the Daily Record to the Rangers Review as they deflected attention away from losing the SPFL and Scottish Cup to the serial winners.

When Rrahmani followed a Glasgow restaurant on Instagram it was celebrated as a done deal!

Ibrox Recruitment specialist Nils Koppen had apparently been in Romania finalising the deal with talks also taking place at a Transferroom convention.

Extra intrigue was added when Neil Lennon was appointed as the new manager at Rapid but it was clear that a fee of around £6m was miles out of Clement’s budget.

Yesterday the Daily Record was forced to admit:

Rapid Bucharest owner Viorel Moldovan admits Albion Rrahmani could be allowed to leave this summer – but it looks like a move to Rangers could be OFF.

The 23-year-old has sparked interest from across Europe after his impressive form for the Romanian side this last season – which has seen the Kosovo international net 17 goals – with the Scottish Premiership side and Slavia Prague reportedly keen on the forward.

A move to the Light Blues appeared to be taking a step forward when Rangers director of football recruitment Nils Koppen reportedly held talks with the player’s agency at TransferRoom’s Mexico convention summit earlier this month.

However, Pro Sport report that the attacker is “close” to a €3m (£2.5million) move to Slavia Prague.

The move to Ibrox was never on but did create a good few weeks of speculation to dull the pain of watching Celtic lifting two more trophies in the final month of the season.

With limited funds being diverted towards paying for the Copland Crane it looks like Clement will have to be creative and imaginative if he is to add to his squad which jets out to a training camp in Holland on Saturday.

Cyriel Dessers and Danilo are the only strikers at Ibrox although Sheffield Wednesday target Scott Wright could, at a push be described as a striker although it took him to Match 37 to score in last season’s SPFL.