Rangers have spent handsomely on the forward line this summer as Michael Beale looks to rebuild a new attack but how much will missing out on Nikola Krstovic come back to haunt him?
The Montengro international has just moved to Serie A from Serbian outfit Dunajska Streda after a prolific breakthrough season and was rumoured to be a target for the Light Blues.
A reported £5m transfer fee ruled Rangers out, however, Nikola Krstovic has just been announced as a Lecce player for £3.2m as reported by Transfer News Central.
For that sort of fee, the 23-year old must never have been a realistic target.
He is the prototype modern striker – able to lead the line on his own or drift into channels and create space for teammates.
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Not only this, but he can score every type of goal.
Rangers miss the boat for Nikola Krstovic
Lecce are an up and coming side in Italy with a long-term plan to disrupt the Serie A big guns and Krstovic is a good place to start.
As a comparision, it looks like Rangers have preferred to go with Danilo rather than Nikola Krstovic in terms of skillset, even if the Brazilian did cost a bit more.
Michael Beale has decided that experience in a better league at a bigger club makes the new Light Blues number 99 less of a risk.
With nearly 30 goals last season, Krstovic will struggle to be quite as deadly in a league that is a big step up in quality but he has all the tools needed to be a success.
Like Petar Ratkov, he’s another talented youngster to keep an eye on who joins the ever growing list of “what might have been”.