RUSSELL MARTIN has revealed Hamza Igamane REFUSED to come on as a substitute against St Mirren.
The Rangers boss also confirmed the Ibrox club rejected an offer for the striker during the past week.
Shutterstock EditorialHamza Igamane was on the bench in Paisley[/caption]
Willie VassThe striker didn’t come on as a sub[/caption]
GettyRussell Martin says the striker refused to come on, citing an injury[/caption]
Igamane, 22, was named among the substitutes for the Gers’ clash with St Mirren.
With an hour played and the Light Blues trailing 1-0, it looked like the striker would be one of the players called upon by Martin.
However, he wasn’t brought on at that point and the five Rangers subs came and went without Igamane making an appearance.
With Rangers chasing goal, his lack of involvement surprised fans and pundits alike.
Findlay Curtis would crash home a late equaliser to rescue a point for the Gers, who have now started the league season with three straight 1-1 draws.
After the game, Martin was quizzed on his decision not to bring Igamane off the bench.
And the Gers boss revealed that he DID attempt to do so – only for Igamane to REFUSE to come on.
Martin said the Morocco international told him he was injured.
The Gers boss told Sky Sports: “Hamza told me he was injured.
“We had a bid this week for Hamza, we rejected it. All was fine, he trained fine yesterday and warmed up fine.
“I turned around to him at 60 minutes because I wanted two strikers on the pitch and Hamza told me he’s injured.
Pressed on if Igamane was effectively refusing to play, Martin further added: “I don’t know. I have to trust him, but we’ll see.”
Commenting on how he’ll deal with the issue, Martin added: “The issue is that the window is still open and there are people with one eye out and one eye in.
“We need people to be all in all the time at this football club, we really need that.
“There are too many people uncertain, still trying to think maybe there’s something there for them.
“The window needs to shut quickly and in house we have to make sure we have people that really, really want to be here.
“I’m calm about it.”
Martin confirmed that a bid had been turned down for Igamane in the past week.
French club Lille have been linked all summer long, along with several other clubs.
Reports out of France last weekend had claimed a loan bid had been booted out by the Gers.
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