As Rangers hammered Nice to keep their impressive Europa League campaign going, Barry Ferguson has seen enough from the £1.7 million signing to be convinced of a bright future.
Understandably so, given the manner in which Hamza Igamane bullied and battered the Nice defence into submission at the Allianz Riviera.
The young Moroccan had only scored once for Rangers before arriving in France on Thursday.
But, in the space of just six minutes either side of half-time, Igamane tripled his tally. And if the first was gift-wrapped for him by Pablo Rosario – Nice boss Franck Haise bemoaning the individual errors which cost his side dear – then Igamane’s second was all his own work.
A fabulous solo effort, beginning with a nutmeg and ending with the coolest of finishes into the far corner.
Igamane has been likened to Alfredo Morelos by some, due to his aggression, physicality and his ability to force defenders into mistakes. And while legendary Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson accepts that the 22-year-old will incur a few groans due to his tendency to overcomplicate things at times, he believes that all the raw ingredients are certainly there to work with.
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Barry Ferguson a big fan of Rangers striker Hamza Igamane
“I loved Hamza Igamane’s rawness and work ethic [against Nice],” Ferguson tells the Daily Record. “He will frustrate at times with his wee tricks and flicks but he worked his socks off, he was strong and annoys defenders.
“He’s got a taste of it.”
Rangers boss Philippe Clement was delighted with Igamane’s impact, hailing his work out of possession as well as his ruthlessness in the final third. Clement has a decision to make ahead of Sunday’s trip to St Johnstone then. Does he stick with Igamane, bring Danilo back into the starting XI, or keep the faith with Cyriel Dessers.
Remarkably, given that he has been one of the first names on the team sheet for so long, Dessers may be at risk of becoming Rangers’ third-choice centre-forward presuming Danilo can stay fit and Igamane can build on his coming of age performance at Nice.
Philippe Clement lauds Igamane as Rangers hammer Nice
“[I told him] that this was not an exam for him, that he’s making the good steps,” Clement told reporters of Igamane on Thursday.
“He gets the chance also because he’s proving the right things in the training with his work attitude, with the things he does with the ball.
“But he was crucial today to win the duels. It was crucial in this game against Nice to do that because they’re really strong in pressing one-on-one. If you don’t have this high support to win duels, you don’t come in the game because you’re all the time pressured. You cannot keep the ball.
“So it was a massive, important role that he had and he did it brilliantly. But brilliantly in the way that he’s been training also on that the last couple of weeks, months. So it’s good that fans, that you guys also start to see the potential that is in this group.”
While Rangers have saved their best performances for European competition this season, Clement’s team need to get back to winning ways domestically if they have any hope of cutting down an 11-point gap between themselves and Old Firm neighbours Celtic.
