Now, after a starring return to the side against Hearts, the Belgian is even more convinced that the sky is the limit for the midfielder.

Picking up a hand injury in the Old Firm draw with Celtic, the resultant surgery forced Mohamed Diomande out of the side at an inopportune moment.

The fact Rangers dropped points in the two matches the Ivory Coast hopeful was out of the side tells its own story.

Returning against Hearts, Dio shined in the middle of the park at Hampden and Philippe Clement broke ranks to single the midfielder out come full time.

Clement: Rangers have ‘missed’ Diomande

It’s not often Philippe Clement singles a player out out of his own accord, but Mohamed Diomande was a post-Hearts exception.

There were multiple top performers as Rangers ditched the Jambos 2-0 at Hampden but it was the 23-year-old who was mentioned by Clement.

Claiming that the return of the midfielder had a big impact, the Rangers manager believes that injuries and a lack of “rhythm” cost his side at a crucial moment of the season.

“Having players back like (Mohamed) Diomande helps a lot,” Clement told a post-match press conference. “He got injured against Celtic and we missed him.

“Also with other players coming back out of injury and missing that rhythm, that played OK games but not at their best level yet.

“So you need to take all these things into account and not throw everything in the garbage. You need to look at the circumstances.”

Koppen & co earn Diomande Hearts praise

Later asked specifically about the contribution of Mohamed Diomande against Hearts, Philippe Clement lavished the Rangers midfielder with praise.

Claiming that Rangers will not be Dio’s last stop in football, the Ibrox boss also praised Director of Recruitment Nils Koppen and his team for securing the kid’s signature.

Despite having a tight budget heading into January, Rangers secured a £4.5m loan-to-buy deal for the midfielder from FC Nordsjælland.

“For sure (we seen what we’ve been missing with Mohamed Diomande v Hearts),” said Clement.

“That’s why it’s also a really big credit towards the recruitment team, because without budget finding somebody with his qualities in January, it’s a huge task.

“A young player, I said also from the beginning that this will not be his last stop. He will go higher up.

“So he’s somebody with a lot of quality but a lot of mentality also, a lot of personality also, to do the right things on the field.

“So yes, we missed him the last couple of weeks after the Celtic game.”

“It’s also because other players like Tom Lawrence, Kieran Dowell, Nico Raskin were guys who came out of injury and lacked rhythm,” said Clement.

“Because they did also a really good job before so I am looking forward now to these last weeks of the season that everybody is going to compete for spots in the team.

“To start, to be on the bench, to be in the squad, so I’m looking forward to that, that everybody’s going to push in all squad and our level’s going to rise again.”

Mohamed Diomande has made 13 appearances since joining Rangers in January, scoring two goals and laying on an assist.

Rangers will now play Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden with the match set to take place on the 25th of May.

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