Oscar Cortes is officially a Rangers player once again after putting pen to paper on a season-long loan.
The deal with Lens includes an obligation to make the deal permanent next summer with a four-year deal on the table at that point that will keep him with the club until 2029. It is a similar arrangement that Philippe Clement brought Mohamed Diomande to the club through in January with the Nordsjaelland midfielder now a full-time member of the first-team at the Light Blues.
Cortes has been working hard behind the scenes on his return from injury and has been posting regular updates from the Rangers training base. He showed early promise after arriving from France but he was then ruled out for the campaign after just seven appearances under his belt that brought one goal and two assists. The Ibrox side have been getting down to business early on with Jefte already through the door. A number of other names including Thomas Galdames have been linked while the club announced Ryan Jack, Kemar Roofe, Borna Barisic, John Lundstram and Jon McLaughlin have left after their contracts expired.
On his return, Cortes told the Rangers website: “I am delighted to be able to stay at Rangers. It was an honour and privilege for me to join the club in January and I was enjoying my football under the manager and playing alongside my team-mates. Sadly, the injury ended my season early, but I have been working hard and I am excited to help the team and play in front of the wonderful fans again soon.”
Clement continued: “I am really pleased to have Oscar coming back. He was a big asset to the squad when he came to the club and he showed the qualities that attracted him to us. Oscar suffered a setback, but he has worked tirelessly during his recovery and I am sure all of the fans are looking forward to seeing him again next season.”
Director of Recruitment, Nils Koppen added: “Oscar’s Rangers career started brightly and he showed the technical ability, pace and goal threat he carries. He was unfortunate to miss the final few months of the campaign, but we believe he can be an important player for the team going forward. He has really loved being at the club and we feel he will get even better when he is fully fit again working under the manager and his coaching staff.”