As Coulibaly continues to impress for Rangers, we look at three on-loan stars who started well but ultimately faded away at Ibrox.
Coulibaly, who was brought in during the summer from Angers on-loan, has made a terrific start to his Gers career. Operating is a defensive midfielder, he’s not been shy in bursting forward to join the attack. Coulibaly has shown he has the ability to make an impact at both ends of the park.
Rangers supporters and Steven Gerrard have also spoken about making the loan move permanent. It may seem a little premature just two league games into the season, but Coulibaly’s quality is there for all to see.
However, there has been previous at Ibrox for loan stars starting well before ultimately fading away. Here, we take a look at three who fell into that bracket:
NATHAN ODUWA
As Mark Warburton started his own Rangers revival, he made similar whole-sale changes to the club like Gerrard. A huge summer recruitment drive saw fan-favourites like James Tavernier and Martyn Waghorn arrive at Ibrox.
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One of those signings, however, was young Nathan Oduwa from Tottenham Hotspur on-loan.
Oduwa was known as a silky player with an eye for goal, and Rangers fans certainly saw his tricks early on. The then 19-year-old loved to get on the ball, and showed terrific skill and ball-control.
He also had an eye for fan-pleasing tricks, and came across as an entertainer first and foremost.
Given the swash-buckling football Rangers were playing at the time, fans took to him early on. Results were positive and he was one player who always looked like providing an entertaining spark to proceedings.
However, very soon, Oduwa dropped out of the side after a poor run of form that often saw a lack of end-product. The youngster still loved to entertain, but struggled to get into the creative midfield roles ahead of Andy Halliday and Barrie McKay.
Oduwa was quickly frozen out when the novelty wore off. He was quickly sent back down to Spurs in January despite the loan deal initially being until the end of the season.
Rangers looked elsewhere for more permanent options, leaving fans’ memories of Oduwa nothing special in the end.
SEAN GOSS
With Pedro Caixinha out the door, it was down to Graeme Murty to steer the ship in the right direction.
In doing so, he brought in a raft of January signings to help propel the club forward and spark a title fight. One of these was Sean Goss.
Goss was a loanee from Queen’s Park Rangers, who demanded that he wasn’t going anywhere after the loan was over. Rangers fans could quickly see why after some terrific early performances with the club.
Showing a terrific range of passing, as well as a composure on the ball, Rangers fans instantly took to Goss. He wasn’t one to hide during matches and was always looking to get in possession. As well as that, he proved himself a bit of a free-kick specialist – notching several during his loan period.
As Murty’s momentum began to gather pace, so too did Goss’ role in the side. He was a key part in Rangers’ return to form, and attempts to buy him in the summer would’ve made sense.
However, a 3-2 defeat at Ibrox to Celtic in March saw everything spiral out of control.
Murty’s men seemed to go from one average result to one poor one, and Goss quickly lost confidence. No longer was he spraying around his passes, and instead didn’t look like stamping his mark games.
With increased pressure on Murty, he started making sporadic changes to his line-ups. Goss was a victim of this, and was on the bench more often than not in the run-in.
It appeared that the former Manchester United kid simply ran out of confidence. However, an anti-climactic end to his Ibrox career ensued, and not many will remember him too fondly.
JASON CUMMINGS
Another of Murty’s signings, Jason Cummings arrived at the club full of confidence and full of excited admirers.
Rangers supporters remembered the former Hibernian man as a real menace when he played in Leith. Several goals against Rangers for the Easter Road club meant supporters knew what he could do.
Cummings didn’t feature on a consistent basis. However, his performances when he did appear early on were promising.
A Scottish Cup hat-trick against Falkirk as well as other important strikes in the Premiership saw him become a near cult-hero. He seemed to win over the affection of the supporters early on, and looked like being a big success.
After consecutive defeats to Celtic, there was a massive call for Cummings to start at Celtic Park in the league. He did. It wasn’t pretty.
The on-loan Nottingham Forest player made absolutely no impact, and failed to hold the ball up to any extent. Up against a Celtic defence Alfredo Morelos had bullied, fans started to lose faith in the youngster.
There was to be no return from it, and the striker found himself back to the bench for the run-in.
All of these loans are a stark reminder that it’s still early days for Coulibaly. Even though he’s has gotten off to flyer, it’s important calls for a permanent contract calm for now.
There’s no doubting the Mali international has talent. However, with the season yet to truly kick into gear, there’ll still be a lot more tests to come for Gerrard’s midfield destroyer.