The reported financial difficulties surrounding Olympique Lyonnais are not all that bad. That’s according to Rangers coach Philippe Clement, who says he would love to have some of their financial difficulties.
Rangers and Lyon will meet on Thursday on matchday two of the UEFA Europe League at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.
At a pre-match press conference, the former AS Monaco manager said: “I would like to have the same financial problems as Lyon.“
During the summer transfer window, OL spent over €100m on new signings, including over €50m on two players from Nottingham Forest, Moussa Niakhaté and Orel Mangala.
However, all the spending has not yet yielded results for Pierre Sage’s team, as they sit 11th in the Ligue 1 table with seven points after six matchdays.
Meanwhile, Rangers spent approximately €16.86m, according to Transfermarkt over the last window.
While Clement is seemingly trying to label Lyon as the favourites for this encounter, OL midfielder and 2018 World Cup winner with France Corentin Tolisso (30) doesn’t agree with the Belgian.
“Rangers were in pot one, like us. I’d say it’s 50/50. I wouldn’t say Rangers are the underdogs by any means,” says Tolisso.
After six matchdays, Rangers are third in the Scottish Premiership, five points below Aberdeen and their Glasgow rivals Celtic for first.
Lyon won their first Europa League fixture, 2-0 over Olympiacos, with the Scottish side winning by that same score against Malmö.
