Abdallah Sima ‘could score a lot of goals’ at Rangers as Mick Beale closes in on a deal to sign the £7 million forward on loan from Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion.
Those with their glasses half-empty may point out that, last season, the spring-heeled Senegal international scored just four Ligue 1 goals on loan at Angers while finishing rock-bottom of France’s top-flight.
That, however, is not the statistic former Rangers midfielder Neil Murray is interested in.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Murray is far more intrigued by the fact that only two players in the division produced more ‘successful dribbles in the final third’ than Abdallah Sima. He’s in very good company too, kept off the top spot only by PSG superstars Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.
There is, Murray says, far more to Sima’s game than pure numbers.
Rangers agree Abdallah Sima loan with Brighton
“It is clear that, although he plays as a striker, his main strength is dribbling with the ball,” argues Murray, a four-time Scottish Premiership champion in the 1990s.
“He likes to run at pace with the ball, and so he would probably offer something a bit different to what this current Rangers squad has.
“Rangers may well be looking at Sima as the type of player who can be important for the group. He can play in a variety of positions and can also play up front on his own.
“The stats show he is more of a creator than an out and out goalscorer,” Murray adds. “Another strength from the stats is that he is quite economical with the ball.
“He doesn’t give it away much and manages to keep possession, which is always a big strength the higher you go in the game. Sima is also quite strong in the air and has a decent return when it comes to aerial duels, which is another asset.”
According to Sky Sports, Rangers agreed a loan deal with Brighton for Sima on Wednesday. The one-time Manchester United and Arsenal target will undergo a medical at Ibrox this week.
‘A lot of goals’
A tally of 20 goals and eight assists for Slavia Prague during his breakthrough 2020/21 campaign, meanwhile, is arguably a greater indication of the sort of numbers Rangers fans can expect from a man who once knocked Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City out of Europe.
Rangers, after all, have a lot more in common with Slavia than the abysmal Angers side Sima represented last term, offering Sima the chance to lead the line in a domestically-dominant team who tend to monopolise possession. Furthermore, the creativity of Todd Cantwell, James Tavernier, Sam Lammers and co should see a player starved of goalscoring opportunities throughout much of 2022/23 gorge upon a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet of chances in Glasgow.
“How will he fit into the Rangers team? The chances are he will be doing more attacking and, as so, will get more chances to score,” Murray predicts.
“People might look at his general stats and say he is not a goalscorer. Yet, the season he was at Slavia Prague, he got 16 goals (in the league).
“So you would expect that Sima playing in the right team and right formation could well score a lot of goals. That is what Michael Beale will be hoping for if the deal goes through.”
