The Belgian was a youngster when the Ibrox gaffer came in at Club Brugge but he sent him out on loan to Holland.
Napoli-bound striker Cyril Ngonge has revealed how he was rejected by Rangers boss Philippe Clement as a kid and why it eventually helped him clinch a £20 million move to the Italian champions.
The Verona star has agreed to move to the Naples club for the huge fee despite being linked with Arsenal and several other top teams in Europe. But Ngonge – son of former Kilmarnock star Michel – was once allowed to leave Brugge by Ibrox boss Clement five years ago because he didn’t rate him.
The 23-year-old was shipped out on loan by Clement to Jong PSV before being allowed to move permanently to RKC Waalwijk, where he impressed enough to win a move to Italy. And he looked back at when Clement told him he wouldn’t make it. Ngonge said: “I was 18 and I was given a few starts at Brugge including against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
“But a few months later, Philippe Clement arrived, I did summer pre-season with the club. But he called me into his office to tell me that he was planning to buy another player in my position.
“He then advised me to go on loan and I didn’t take it very well at the time. When I look back, I would have liked it to have ended differently.
“I probably lost time in my development because of that and I maybe would have got to where I am now earlier. But those years in the Netherlands really shaped me as a player and as a man, with the good times and the bad. Either way, I don’t regret anything. I accept my journey as it is, even if it took time for me to make the breakthrough.”
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