Todd Cantwell insists he never said that he 'didn't want to play for Rangers'.

The attacking midfielder spoke to Sky Sports today just days after his deadline day move from the Scottish Premiership giants to Blackburn Rovers.

The former Norwich City man joined for £500,000, as the playmaker said goodbye to Ibrox following a dramatic summer surrounding his future.

Philippe Clement revealed over a month ago that Cantwell wouldn't play for Rangers again following conversations they'd had about his career.

Now, Cantwell had opted to speak out about his call to leave Glasgow.

"There was change around the club," the 26-year-old said. "When a manager goes, the backroom staff go with him. It felt like a different place. 

"When a new manager comes in they have to put their stamp on things. I think we had a bit of a balance where last season we got ourselves into a position where we could go on to do well. 

"Like I said, I've got full respect for the manager and management at Rangers now, but I didn't believe it was the right place for me to be. Those are personal reasons.

"You don't have to look too far behind tactics and the way a team plays and how you get the best version of yourself. 

"I think at 26-year-old if you're not sure what the best changing room for you to be in is then ultimately you'll probably bounce around quite a lot. I made the decision, it's a bold decision and yeah, let's see how it unfolds."

Clement announced Cantwell wanted to leave after a pre-season game against Birmingham on July 24. 

The Belgian had initially left the press room, before voluntarily returning to address the situation with the assembled media.


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Asked about this, Cantwell said: "It was his decision to tell the press that that was my decision. We'd spoken internally for a while before the season had finished.

"Ultimately we couldn't find a happy medium for both. 

"The one thing I'm desperate to clear up, which I touched on in my Instagram, is that I never said I didn't want to play for Rangers Football Club. That never came out of my mouth and never would."

In THAT press conference, Clement said: "Todd Cantwell came to my office a while ago. We have a really good relationship and we talked a long time about that.

"He came a while ago to say he feels ready for another adventure, that he wants another challenge.

"I spoke long with him because I think Rangers is a really good club for him.

"I wanted to give him time also, so that's why the last couple of weeks I didn't speak about it. But he came back with the same request.

"So I'm going to be focused on the next couple of weeks on guys who are with their heads with Rangers."