If there’s one thing managers want more than ever in modern football it’s flexibility. Players who can not only start in different positions game-to-game but occupy a variety of spaces and roles during matches.

The modern evolution of the full-back has gone full circle at the elite curve of football in recent years. From becoming the width provider in place of wingers to extra central cover supplementing midfielders and preventing counterattacks - a top-level full-back is expected to be capable across all attacking domains.

Read more: Check all the Rangers transfer news & rumours throughout the transfer window

After Ridvan Yilmaz was stretchered off in midweek against Dynamo Kyiv the performance of Jefte at left-back during Rangers’ 2-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday was under the microscope. The club are not expected to move in the market after it emerged Ridvan would miss four to six weeks with Jefte and Robbie Fraser already on the books in that position and a number of priorities elsewhere, if and when further outgoings are triggered.

Philippe Clement and Nils Koppen are attempting to fit multiple windows into one given the bloated wage bill and scattered squad building that’s jumped from style to style in recent seasons. Attempting to bring the average age of the squad down significantly by replacing high earners such as Borna Barisic and John Lundstram with the likes of Jefte and Connor Barron.

Barron, Jefte and Mohamed Diomande are in line with a new recruitment approach. Not only have Rangers been too reticent to recruit young Scottish talent in recent seasons, but they’ve also lacked a recruitment strategy that seeks to exploit under-tapped markets which carry greater value than the English pool. The size and scope of the summer rebuild, and the scale of issues inherited, can cloud what would be regarded as a busy summer already by the standards of most clubs.

“He's still really young, only 20. But I think people start to see now why we brought him in and for not much money,” Clement said on Saturday discussing the performance of Jefte, “It's not easy to find these kinds of players with that quality. So a big congratulations to the recruitment team for finding somebody with this quality, that age, for that price.”

Jefte, at an early stage, looks like the type of profile Koppen was tasked with acquiring as director of football recruitment. From a market previously not used by the club, at an affordable price and with a modern profile. Also capable of playing on the wing, Jefte has the size and stature to win duels and play in Scotland which is a compliment rather than a trade-off for technical ability. More importantly, the defender appears the right profile of player for the type of football Clement wants to play at Ibrox. Fast, individual and vertical. 

Jefte and Danilo (Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group)

Clement inherited a squad around this time last year built very specifically under the guise of a previous manager. There was no overarching sporting director with a contingency plan should the method in the dugout change come October - as it would dramatically. This time last year the club’s long-term pursuit of Jose Cifuentes was supposed to take Rangers’ midfield to the next level and only days ago, the Ecuadorian was sent out on loan for the second time this season despite a dearth of options in that area.

That’s not to criticise Cifuentes individually. How many settle in a new club and continent quickly when the environment and tactical set-up finetuned to your abilities are out the window two months into a move? There is no time for relationships to form or lessons to be learned. Only long-term thinking in this window, whether that be regarding the players signed, the wage bill restructuring, average age reduction or those who leave, can solve a long-term problem at Ibrox.

Clement has been forced to play individuals out of position since arriving, but he’s also lacked players suited to the type of football he wants to play more broadly. To speak in black and white terms, Michael Beale built a team that had the technical ability to dominate ‘small spaces’, creating overloads and dominating the centre on and off the ball. Ball progression was slower and the emphasis on creative technicians in the centre higher.

Read more

Jefte scout report: Flying full-back, Ridvan comparison and no backwards passes

Vaclav Cerny inside track with FC Twente boss: Danilo link and his standout season

By contrast, Clement desires players who can dominate ‘big spaces’. What does that mean? Off the ball Rangers mark man-for-man rather than crowding the ball as under Beale, there is a greater emphasis on individuals to win their duels and control their area. Pressing is dictated by the position of the man rather than the ball. Similarly in possession, the method of moving play from back to front is quicker and zones of attack often wider. Clement is less obsessed with possession and appears more comfortable in a transition-heavy game. High-intensity runs over distance are more frequent, hence the number of injuries suffered by those who played in wide areas last season.

Think of the players who stood out after Clement’s arrival last season as proof. Ridvan Yilmaz, Dujon Sterling, Abdallah Sima, Diomande - all players that can progress the ball individually, win duels, play forward at speed and are comfortable on the ball in big spaces on their own. This ability to progress the ball individually, like Jefte, is particularly important.

By contrast, when you’re forced to start a player like Fabio Silva on the left-wing, not a player who progresses the ball individually, the speed and style you’re seeking to implement is hampered. “It’s about connection. Fabio is not a No.9 who creates a chance from nothing. Fabio needs someone who has a good connection with him, to provide passes and combine around the penalty box,” his former PSV coach Javier Rabanal Hernandez told the Rangers Review last season on the topic.

Similarly, a player like Robin Propper is a better fit for Clement’s football than the man he replaced, Connor Goldson. Why? Propper is happier leaving the confines of a back four and jumping into midfield compared to Goldson, who’s a better player in a defensive block when the space ahead of him is protected. 

Equally, Propper is happier to invite pressure on the ball. That’s why he described himself as a “build-up player”. Rather than always splitting lines with his passing, the former FC Twente captain should be able to trigger the opposition’s press, creating the space Clement’s football requires to play into.

Let’s say you were to replace Jefte with Barisic during Saturday’s meeting against St Johnstone. The Croatian isn’t a ‘big space’ player who thrives with areas ahead to set the tone, inject tempo and progress the ball individually. Of course, he has the ability to fashion high-quality chances individually, but rarely on his own accord. This isn’t an isolated dig at an individual, but rather an acknowledgement of the fact that Clement inherited a group built over many seasons to thrive in a very different approach.

By contrast, Jefte is a modern full-back. He crosses as much as he carries and can receive by the touchline and run through teams, underlap or overlap and thrives with space ahead of him. 

A 2-0 win over St Johnstone was one of the few times where across the board Clement has been able to field the combination of full-back and winger on each side of the pitch he desires. With two inverted wingers playing on their strong side, able to cut inside and play vertically, complimented by full-backs who can move on the inside or the outside. 

Clement wants to move play quickly in the build-up and often down the sides where a surrendering of possession is less risky. Keeping his full-backs wide by the touchline to stretch the opposition before they move infield to guard against counterattacks and enable wingers to provide a one-on-one threat out wide.

Jefte and James Tavernier in narrow positions off the ball (Image: RangersTV)

One of the failures of Rangers’ squad building in recent years is the fact that managers have inherited squads not suited to their style. This isn’t a black-or-white debate - Liverpool have just transitioned from Jurgen Klopp’s football to Arne Slot. It is a delicate balance to strike, however, especially when you jump back and forward twice in the space of three seasons; from Steven Gerrard to Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Beale to Clement.

Jefte needs to grow defensively but at 20, he looks to tick the box of what Rangers’ summer should centre on - affordable, for the future and present and a 'big place' player who can help Clement's ambitions.