If any game summed up how things have gone for Matija Frigan since the Rangers target completed his move to Belgium last summer, it’s probably Westerlo’s 1-0 home defeat to Charleroi on Friday night.
It was the Croatian’s involvement who caused what would have been an early opener for Westerlo to be ruled out. And, by the time he was subbed off late on, Matija Frigan had missed two glorious openings of his own, the struggling striker’s tally still stuck at a measly four goals after 21 Jupiler League appearances.
“We are blinded by the harsh reality of football,” a frustrated Frigan told Gazet van Antwerpen at full-time, trying to make sense of a game which went the way of the visitors despite Charleroi managing only one shot on target and seven fewer than their luckless hosts.
“We didn’t score, (and) Charleroi does.”
Rangers considered Matija Frigan
Westerlo, for the most part, have not struggled for goals this season.
With 40, they are comfortably the highest scorers in the bottom half of Belgium’s top flight. Westerlo have managed more than third-place Cercle Brugge too, despite the exceptional form of their Chelsea-linked talisman Kevin Denkey.
But when you consider that Frigan has managed only four from 25 attempts on goal – even if his return is more impressive than it first looks when you factor in his XG (WhoScored) – the £4.7 million club-record fee Westerlo invested in the former HNK Rijeka striker is looking more expensive with every miss.
Striker must channel his inner-Cyriel Dessers
Rangers were heavily linked with the Croatia under-21 international last summer before betting big on Danilo and Cyriel Dessers. With seven goals in nine games before Saturday’s clash with Motherwell, Dessers has bounced back from a miserable start to life at Ibrox. Arguably the most improved player of the Philippe Clement era.
Frigan would benefit from displaying the same resolve as Dessers at a time in which his own eye-watering price-tag is also coming into question.
