Dapo Afolayan might not be a name too many Rangers fans are familiar with.
After all, it’s almost two years since the former Bolton Wanderers forward was being mentioned alongside the Ibrox club.
Sun journalist Alan Nixon claimed back in the summer of 2022 that Rangers were considering a £1.5m summer swoop for the attacker under the management of Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Patreon via the 72).
The journalist would later claim that Dapo Afolayan was being lined up as a potential replacement for Ryan Kent.
For whatever reason, a move out of Bolton never materialised for Afolayan that summer but six months later German club St Pauli spent £500k to bring the winger to Hamburg.
Only 18 months later, Dapo Afolayan has made headlines in Germany after scoring two goals which are worth their weight in Bundesliga gold.
Afolayan’s Bundesliga rise
Dapo Afolayan netted two goals for St Pauli as they defeated Osnabruck 3-1 to secure promotion to the Bundesliga.
This will be the first time the German side have played in the country’s national top flight for 11 years and the 26-year-old English winger has been central to their push.
Goals eight and nine of a productive season in Bundesliga 2 for the winger, the top flight now beckons.
Getting St Pauli’s final promotion charge off to a perfect start after only seven minutes, Afolayan got across his man to slide home a first-time cross in the six-yard box.
The winger then doubled the St Pauli lead after finding himself unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box in the Osnabruck box.
St Pauli then went 3-0 in front through Marcel Hartel before Lara Kehl pulled back a last-minute consolation from the penalty spot.
The result means St Pauli have been promoted alongside Holstein Kiel.
They could go to be crowned champions if they match or better Kiel’s result on the final day of the season, the campaign rounding off with an away day trip to Wehen Wiesbaden.
Dapo Afolayan has also been responding to the promotion on social media with his fairytale rise from English non-league to the Bundesliga turning heads.
On what was a big day for the winger, Afolayan insists ‘anything is possible’.
Yet another Rangers transfer miss
Amid the multitude of players who get mentioned alongside Rangers, Dapo Afolayan was perhaps one of the more interesting in recent campaigns.
Rangers have struggled to find wide players who deliver consistently and Afolayan was coming off the back of a 12-goal season in League One with Bolton.
Whilst a move never materialised, Afolayan’s success also comes at a difficult time for Rangers and the club’s recruitment team.
The Gers have had a disastrous few seasons on the recruitment front with several players being allowed to run their contracts down.
Rangers have also failed to sign any major development success stories with Nils Koppen and the club’s new-look recruitment board tasked with turning things around.
As another Scottish Premiership campaign prepares to end in disappointment, the situation brings into greater focus our shortcomings in the transfer market.
There’s a big summer ahead and we quite simply need to get things right in this department.
Missing out on would-be bargains like Dapo Afolayan reflects poorly on Rangers and let’s hope those now in charge can start to improve our woeful transfer record.
