PHILIPPE Clement will give Rangers left back Ridvan Yilmaz up until the last minute to prove his fitness for the cinch Premiership game against Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday.
Yilmaz picked up an injury when he was away with Turkey during the international break and was not involved in his side’s 3-1 win over Hibernian in Govan last weekend.
However, the £3.4m defender had been in excellent form for the treble-chasing Viaplay Cup winners, who are one point behind their city rivals with a game in hand, before he suffered his knock and Clement is keen to have him involved in the Old Firm match.
He admitted the 22-year-old defender had not trained enough with his team mates at Auchenhowie this week – but stressed he will monitor his progress right up until kick-off.
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Asked if Yilmaz would be available for the derby yesterday, the Belgian said: “That is not sure yet. We are going to see tomorrow, or even on Sunday, and make a decision around that.
“He has been training, but not enough with the team, for the moment, to be sure that he is in the squad. But he has been training, yes. Everybody is available who was available for the last game.”
However, Clement stressed that the Brighton loanee, who was on target 15 times in the first half of the 2023/24 campaign, is not ready to play the whole game against Celtic.
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“He is fit enough to start, but not to play 90 minutes,” he said. “It depends what part of the game you want him on the pitch. So that is my decision.”
Meanwhile, Clement stressed that he has been concentrating fully on Rangers’ encounter with Celtic this weekend and had no concerns about their game in hand against Dundee at Dens Park next Wednesday night having to be moved to a different venue if the pitch is waterlogged.
“It would be a big surprise if it was unplayable because it was a good pitch, I hear, a few weeks ago,” he said. “No, I am busy now with the Celtic game.
“If I am busy with that, to arrange other pitches, I am not busy with this. That is work for the groundsman and other people to do that. I am only busy with Sunday’s game.
“We didn’t discuss that. We are only busy with ourselves now and our own game. We cannot do anything about that.”
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