Former Rangers attacker Serge Atakayi is reigniting his career in Finland.
Atakayi spent three years at Ibrox and made one senior appearance as a substitute in a 7-1 hammering of Motherwell in November 2018.
He didn’t manage to kick on at first-team level, though, and was eventually sold to Finnish top-flight side SJK for a reported fee of £100,000 in December 2019 [Daily Record].
It was a homecoming for the pacy forward, who was born in DR Congo but brought up in Finland, the country he represented at youth international level.
Yet, things weren’t working out at SJK. He struggled to produce goal contributions and then slipped down the pecking order.
In July, former Rangers assistant manager Jonatan Johansson stepped in.
He offered Atakayi a chance to regain his confidence in the second division, signing him on loan for TPS Turku, and it’s proving to be a masterstroke.
The former Ger scored in his second appearance and after a brief lull, has really been turning it on recently.
In his last five outings, he’s provided four assists and scored two goals.
Those are superb individual numbers and crucially, TPS have won all five matches, catapulting them to the top of the Ykkonen table.
Given the talent that Atakayi possesses, few would have expected him to be playing in the Finnish second-tier aged 22.
However, just a few months ago his career looked in tatters and now, he’s playing a key role in a promotion charge.
He’s got a long way to go before it could be suggested that Rangers made a mistake letting him go, but it’s good to see a gifted young player finally start to make a meaningful impact at senior level.
