Unfortunately, Rangers know more than most about transfers not working out as planned.
The jury remains out on some of Rangers’ most expensive additions of recent times – see Danilo, Mohamed Diomande and Nedim Bajrami – while others belong firmly in the ‘flop’ category.
See Sam Lammers, that £3 million investment returning just two goals in 31 matches, as well as Juninho Bacuna, Jose Cifuentes, Cedric Itten, Eros Grezda and almost every player to arrive from overseas during the trauma-inducing reign of Pedro Caixinha.
In terms of disappointments, however, even Carlos Pena, Eduardo Herrera and the aforementioned Lammers would struggle to knock Umar Sadiq off the podium. A striker who managed a grand total of four goalless appearances under Steven Gerrard during a 2018 loan spell from Roma. A striker who’s most memorable contribution to the Rangers clause was a desperate dive in a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Aberdeen.
Less Ballon D’Or and more Fall on D’Floor.
Rangers flop Umar Sadiq continues to bounce around clubs
To Sadiq’s credit, a 28-year-old with more stamps on his passport than Michael Palin has done extremely well to carve out a respectable career for himself post-Ibrox. A fine spell in Serbia with Partizan Belgrade paved the way for his 43-goal in 83-game stint at Almeria.
But if those two transfers proved inspired, putting Umar Sadiq on the map following six seperate loan spells of varying success, then the same certainly cannot be said of the two moves which followed.
That goal-every-other-game record with Almeria was explanation why Real Sociedad signed Umar Sadiq in a £17 million deal following the departure of Alexander Isak to Newcastle United.
From the pantheon of Rangers striking disasters to a 20 million euro La Liga frontman in the space of four years. It had been quite the rise.
But after said rise comes a fall.
What might have become of Umar Sadiq had he not ruptured his ACL days after scoring a maiden La Real goal against Atletico Madrid?
The rangy Nigeria international had his moments after returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines – Umar Sadiq fired Sociedad past Sevilla with a long-range blooter on one of his better days – but a tally of four goals in 50 matches was hardly the return Sociedad expected from their investment.
Valencia switch may be another mistake in Sadiq’s career
At the beginning of 2025, Umar Sadiq was on the move again, packing his bags and joining the 12th different club of his nomadic career.
But with not even relegation-threatened Valencia managing to find a place for him in their starting XI – the 28-year-old has made three appearances off the bench totalling just 76 La Liga minutes – Spanish football expert Terry Gibson cannot help but wonder if this is another wrong turn in Umar Sadiq’s increasingly bizarre career path.
“Slightly annoyed that Umar Sadiq has left Real Sociedad’s bench to go and sit on Valencia’s bench!,” Gibson told El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast after the one-time Roma prospect was again limited to a brief cameo during Saturday’s 2-0 win over relegation rivals Leganes.
“He must be sitting there thinking ‘Come on!’. There will be other clubs who would have took him and he’d have been starting in their team.
“I do think they’ve got to find a way to get him in the starting line-up. Not at the expense of [Valencia’s star striker] Hugo Duro, I think he does well, but maybe the two of them [together], let’s see.
No one works harder in La Liga than Hugo Duro so he could drop in.
“They could play together.”
At this present moment, however, Sadiq’s outstanding returns in the second tier of Spanish football with Almeria now feels less like a coming-of-age turning point, and more of rare relief in a story full of ill-fated transfers, injuries one sorry, silly dive in the Scottish cup.
