Philippe Clement expects to open talks with Brighton over the future of star forward Abdallah Sima well before the summer window.

With 11 goals already this season, the loanee has been the best of nine summer signings that, as a collective, have failed to give Rangers the boost many expected. 

Michael Beale paid the price for this underperformance with his job but new manager Clement is keen to keep Sima around as part of his reconstruction. He has 18 months left on his deal with the Premier League side but it's understood he remains part of their plans and any deal would be expensive.

Asked about the decision making process with Sima, Clement said: “It’s not about assessing that in the summer, there will be talks faster than that.

"But of course it’s really early to be doing that now. The most important thing is that Abdallah is that performing and that he feels really good in the club. That’s the first step so we can build on that.

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"If he is continuing what he is is doing now I think this is also a good place for him to grow, as a player, as a person, in everything."

Sima has just become a father and seems to have settled into life in Glasgow just as readily off the pitch as on it. Rangers is a club that tests not just the feet but the character of those who pull on the light blue jersey and the Senegal international is doing rather better than some of his fellow summer signings on that front. Clement may have been at the club a short time but he already understands how crucial personality is to success at this football club.

“It’s a demanding club so you love that or you have difficulty with that," he admitted. “You need a big personality to be strong with that in the moments when people are not happy about things. Then you need to fight through. And Abdallah has showed that in these weeks. It’s not be the whole time that he’s getting praise. But he also fights through and that’s also one of the things we need to look really hard into in the assessment of players. 

"It's not just the physical, tactical and technical qualities - there’s personality too, the ability to be strong in the environment of a winning club. That’s also the winning culture I want to create here. People who will come through even in the difficult moments. I want that also from the fans, that they push the players through even in the difficult moments, pushing in a positive ways, feeling confident that if they give energy, the players will do it. So that’s what we need to create."