Rangers fans might want to strap themselves in for the news that Man City – yes Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions – are set to move for Umar Sadiq.
Almeria striker Sadiq, now 24, has had quite the career turnaround since an ill-fated six months at Ibrox and the claim was made by AS Diario in Spain.
The report claims that City would sign Sadiq before sending him on loan to ESTAC Troyes in Ligue 1 and assessing his progress for season 22/23.
Why this sort of arrangement I hear you ask?
Well – aside from the whole Sadiq flopping in Scotland thing – Man City are one of eleven teams currently under the ownership of the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed’s City Group.
The others are New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama Marinos, Girona, Montevideo City Torque, Club Bolivar, Sichuan Jiuniu, Mumbai City FC, Lommel SK and of course, ESTAC Troyes.
The French club has just won Ligue 2 and is looking for reinforcements ahead of their new campaign.
Interest in Sadiq – no matter how strange to Rangers fans – is also not without merit.
The lanky Nigerian striker has been on inspired form ever since leaving Ibrox and after a goal-laden spell in Serbia with Partizan Belgrade, ended up at Segunda Liga side Almeria last season.
Sadiq’s rampant rise would continue here as the forward netted a very impressive 20 goals in the competitive division, narrowly missing out on firing Almeria to promotion.
Such form has seen Umar linked with Bayern Munich in the past [AS] whilst his 23 goals and 19 assists in 52 games at Partizan reportedly had Man Utd scouts watching [the Sun].
According to the AS Diario report, Almeria are also holding out for £25.7m (€30m) for the player who is said to have a £51.5m (€60m) release clause.
It also claims that German side Eintracht Frankfurt and Russian team Spartak Moscow have already submitted bids for the player.
Umar Sadiq was one of the first signings of the Steven Gerrard revolution at Rangers when he signed on loan from AS Roma in Italy back in 2018.
However, things did not work out as planned for the striker at Rangers and he left less than halfway through his loan spell.
Since then, Sadiq has taken aim at Steven Gerrard and even claims he’s still owed a month’s wage by the Ibrox club.
