Philippe Clement has revealed winger Abdallah Sima is progressing ‘really well’ as he seeks to return to action for Rangers in the coming weeks.
The Senegalese star was ruled out for up to three months after sustaining a thigh injury during the African Cup of Nations in January. Sima, who is on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion this term, returned to Rangers without making an appearance for his country and went under the knife just days later. His last outing for Clement's side saw him score his 15th goal of the season in the victory at home to Kilmarnock.
The loss of Sima was a huge blow to Clement at that stage and his continued absence has been heightened by a series of injury setbacks in the final third. Clement was already without striker Danilo due to a knee issue and the Belgian has seen Oscar Cortes, Todd Cantwell, Ross McCausland, Dujon Sterling, Rabbi Matondo and Scott Wright all ruled out at various stages as his attacking options have been depleted during a crucial stage of the campaign.
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McCausland didn’t make it off the bench during the Europa League defeat to Benfica on Thursday night. Wright started before Matondo and Cantwell were introduced but there was no place for Sterling after he was forced off in the Scottish Cup victory over Hibernian at the weekend.
Rangers make the trip to face Dundee in their final Premiership fixture before the international break on Sunday. Clement’s side then have matches with Hibernian, Celtic and Ross County, as well as the Scottish Cup semi-final with Hearts, before the top six split. The return of Sima for that run would be a timely boost for Rangers and Clement is once again having to piece together a tricky puzzle as he seeks to guide his side through a testing fixture schedule.
“Abda is in the same way that was prognosed before,” Clement said. “He feels really good, step by step. He is doing the rehab more, he is outside for the moment but not with the team yet. He is progressing really well and that is a good thing.
“Dujon is going to be a really doubtful one towards Sunday, we will see. We will not take a risk with him to have him out longer term. Ross McCausland also still struggled today but was on the bench because you need to think that this game was possibly for 120 minutes. Scott is coming out of injury and played a lot, Rabbi coming out of injury had to play minutes.
“I had to keep a third player also there if they could not manage to do 120 minutes together. In that way, I am more of a mathematician for the moment than a manager. That is why Ross was on the bench but he was not fully fit so we will see if he is fit for Sunday.”
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