It’s the summer of 2019 and Rangers left it late to sign Ryan Kent from Liverpool but a certain Erling Braut Haaland had also made a big move.
The winger was the signing fans wanted after an impressive debut loan campaign but the thought was always that he was too expensive until the board backed Steven Gerrard and signed Ryan Kent for £7m.
For an almost identical fee, Erling Haaland – as a fresh-faced 18-year old – signed for RB Salzburg from Molde and the rest, as they say, is history.
With 20 goals and six assists for the Norwegian outfit in just 50 games, it was pretty clear that European football had a special talent on its hands.
Standing at 6ft 5inches tall as a teen made Erling Haaland stand out from the crowd but Scottish football was aware of his precocious ability as early as 2018.
Facing Hibs in a Europa League qualifying tie, after a 0-0 draw at Easter Road, the Premier League’s newest record breaker set about breaking Neil Lennon’s heart in emphatic fashion.
Two goals and an assist were a sign of things to come with Haaland’s predatory movement on full display.
Aside from being a few kilos heavier and having longer hair, not much has changed since.
Rangers missed a trick on goal machine Erling Haaland
After leaving Molde and stepping up in leagues, Haaland has scored better than a goal a game in domestic and European football.
Including his 21 goals in 23 goals for Norway and at 22-years old he has already scored 207 goals in 250 appearances.
Compare this to Ryan Kent’s 33 goals over the same period and it puts into perspective how much value Rangers really got for their £7m
For Rangers to really succeed both in the short and the long-term, the scouting has to be so much better than it currently is.
We also need to get better value for money than we did for the reported £15m spent on Filip Helander, Kemar Roofe and Kent combined.
Haaland cost Molde £100,000, give or take, and judging by his display against Hibs, it didn’t take a genius to work out what direction his career was going in.
RB Salzburg made a £13m profit on a player who scored 29 goals in 27 games for them, whereas Rangers £7m investment is walking out the door.
