One-time Rangers target Albert Gudmundsson is in superb Serie A form with one of Mo Salah’s former team-mates likening the Genoa forward to the Liverpool superstar.
Kevin Strootman shared a dressing room with Mohamed Salah at Roma, and is now doing the same with Albert Gudmundsson at Genoa. He is, therefore, particularly well-placed to pass judgement on a player who’s reputation continues to soar with every well-taken finish.
Gudmundsson, linked with Rangers back in late-2021 by The Telegraph a few weeks before swapping AZ Alkmaar for Italy to the tune of just £1 million, has six goals in his last seven appearances for the Rossoblu.
And Strootman sees similarities between the Iceland international and a player found his goalscoring boots at Roma before exploding under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Rangers wanted Albert Gudmundsson before £1m move
“We have to be happy, even if every now and then he disappears (from the game) for a while!” Strootman tells Gazzetta dello Sport. “I experienced a similar situation with Salah at Roma.
“I wondered why he sometimes missed chances. And there were those who said that, if he had scored them all, he would go to Real Madrid or Liverpool…”
Of course, Salah would eventually end up at Anfield. Now one of the finest, most prolific attackers of the modern era, Gudmundsson still has a long way to go if he is to emulate Liverpool’s living legend, even if he’s certainly moving in the right direction.
What could have been for Rangers
Gudmundsson, meanwhile, is just one of a number of talented forwards who could have ended up at Rangers. The Gers failed with a bid for the now-£20 million-rated Club Brugge talisman Andreas Skov Olsen around the same time as those Gudmundsson links, while Olimpiu Morutan’s performances over in Italy saw him labelled a ‘phenomenon’ by none other than Andrea Pirlo.
Luis Palma, however, may be the most egregious example of ‘one that got away’. Rangers reportedly submitted a £2.5 million offer before Palma joined Old Firm rivals Celtic for less than the Ibrox outfit paid for Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers respectively.
