Hamza Igamane has left Rangers to join Lille in a £10.4m deal.
The 22-year-old’s departure comes just days after he refused to play for the club in a Scottish Premiership match at St Mirren, claiming he was injured.
Following that game, Rangers head coach Russell Martin told Sky Sports: “We had a bid this week for Hamza, we rejected it. All was fine. Trained fine yesterday [Saturday], warmed up fine. I turned around to him at 60 minutes because I wanted two strikers on the pitch. Hamza told me he was injured.”
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Russell Martin revealed he tried to introduce Hamza Igamane as a second-half sub at St Mirren but the striker told him he was injured
Two days later, the Morocco international was missing from training – despite scans showing there was no injury – as Rangers prepared for their Champions League play-off second leg away to Club Brugge.
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After the draw at St Mirren, Kris Boyd said if Igamane doesn’t want to ‘knuckle down’ then Rangers should show him the door
Hours later on Tuesday, Rangers confirmed they had accepted a bid from Lille after Igamane’s release clause was met.
Martin said Igamane “got what he wanted” before adding: “Ideally it wouldn’t have happened but it did and now we’ve moved forward and we can move on.
“It’s not the players’ fault, it’s really not.
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Igamane scored 16 goals in his first season at the club, including this stunner to beat Celtic late on
“It’s really difficult for a young man, a young man that doesn’t speak the language, that’s being told, ‘Don’t worry, your future is going to be elsewhere’ and then I’m asking him to be all in and do this and ‘this is what we need from you’ and all that stuff. So difficult, so I don’t take it personally.”
Igamane has signed a five-year deal at the French club, departing Ibrox just one year on from his move from AS FAR.
Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from this season
Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games this season
From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports
