Abdallah Sima’s loan move to Ibrox was a transfer two years in the making with Rangers first showing an interest in the Brighton and Hove Albion loanee back in 2021.
That is according to Piotr Kasprzak, a scout who works on behalf of Rangers in Eastern Europe.
Abdallah Sima, he explains, was a target for the Scottish Premiership giants two and a half years ago, when the Senegal speedster was making quite the name for himself over in the Czech Republic with Slavia Prague.
Sima even featured against his future employers as Slavia knocked Steven Gerrard’s side out of the Europa League in the spring of 2021. It quickly became apparent, however, that a then-teenage Sima was out of Rangers’ reach, financially speaking. Brighton would stump up £7 million to bring the Dakar-born attacker to England a few months later.
Rangers finally land Abdallah Sima
“We remembered him from the times of Slavia Prague. He joined Slavia and was a sensation,” Kasprzak tells Polish publication Goal.
“We rated him highly. But we simply couldn’t spend that much money on him at the time. He went to Brighton, then went on loan to France, came back, and now has been loaned to Rangers.”
Kasprzak believes that Rangers eventually benefitted from that early groundwork, Sima’s eventual and long-awaited arrival a deal two years in the making.
“Probably, if it weren’t for the fact that we had him in our database from his time at Slavia and he was stuck in our memory, we wouldn’t have gone for him in the summer, because his name wouldn’t mean much to us,” the talentspotter adds.
“And now he is one of our best players. This past work has come to fruition, albeit with a delayed start.”
Brighton loanee impressing under Philippe Clement
Rangers are likely to try and sign Sima on a permanent deal in 2024, though much will depend on how much of that £7 million investment Brighton are keen to re-coup. Sima has impressed with nine goals already for Philippe Clement’s side, finding the net in five successive games a couple of weeks ago.
