Philippe Clement will welcome as many selection headaches as possible as Neraysho Kasanwirjo strengthened his case for more minutes in blue with a fine performance in orange.
The 22-year-old Dutch defender joined the Govan club on loan from Feyenoord in the summer, with an option to make the move permanent next year, but with captain James Tavernier in the right-back slot, his chances have been limited so far.
After making his debut when he replaced Tavernier late on in last month’s William Hill Scottish Premiership game against Dundee, he started for the first time as left-back in the 2-0 Europa league win away to Malmo before another three cameo roles against Hibernian, Lyon and St Johnstone, leaving the Gers fans wanting more.
During the international break Kasanwirjo played a key role for the Netherlands Under-21s with two assists from left-back in the 3-0 Euro 2025 qualifying win over Sweden in Nijmegen.
Ahead of the trip to Kilmarnock on Sunday, Clement said: “That’s what we want. And we want a lot of challenges.
“I want a lot of headaches this season.
“I hope I have a lot of headaches with making decisions when to use what player, because that will only benefit the team and Nana (Kasanwirjo) is pushing in that way clearly in training with the national team and also the minutes he took here.
“So if players keep on pushing longer term, they will get their minutes.”
One player Clement will not have to worry about accommodating for the trip to Ayrshire is Ianis Hagi, who was sent off in the Premiership win over St Johnstone at Ibrox before the international break, having come on as substitute at half-time.
The Romania midfielder, who was back in the squad for the first time this season after a contract issue was resolved, was initially booked for a foul on Saints striker Benjamin Kimpioka in the 80th minute before a VAR check saw referee David Dickinson upgrade the punishment to a red card.
Asked if Hagi’s absence was disappointing, Clement said: “I don’t think about disappointments, about this or that or all these excuses, I focus on the guys who are available,
“And to try to get the rest back as fast as possible in the best possible way.
“So that means also with Hagi, now to use this time, these two weeks to train really hard and get minutes also with the second team, to gain rhythm, but also train really hard like in a pre-season and to use this period in a positive way.”
