Rangers should not consider signing Oscar Cortes on a permanent basis from Lens this summer, according to Four Lads Had A Dream podcast host Stevie Clifford.
The Colombian international suffered a serious muscular injury at the end of February and, talking to The Rangers Review about the player staying at Ibrox beyond the end of his loan spell, Clifford said:
“I’m not sure we’d spend four or five million on Cortes which it would probably cost at this point. I’d like to see if we can get another loan for him.”
“We kind of hold all the cards at the moment. I’m not sure we’ll see him again this season, he got injured at the worst possible time.”
Cortes’s campaign may have come to a premature end
As Clifford mentions, there is uncertainty over whether the 20-year-old will be back before the final match in May. When he picked up his injury against Kilmarnock, manager Phillippe Clement commented that the winger may need surgery:
“It is a really strange one with the action that he did to have a severe injury like that, but we need to look at that in the next couple of days what to do with it – operation or not.”
It will be up to Rangers whether he remains at the club
When the Colombian moved from Lens to the Light Blues at the start of February, an option to buy was included in the loan agreement.
It means it will be the club’s decision whether he returns to France at the end of the season. If the purchase clause is as high as £4m-£5m, you can’t see it being triggered, considering that Cortes has only made 7 appearances for the Gers. A request for another loan does seem to be the right avenue to head down.