Glasgow Rangers may have to go through the remainder of the season without the services of Abdallah Sima, as the winger suffered an injury during the recent Scottish Cup semifinal against Hearts.
Having stuttered their way to a 2-1 win over St Mirren on the weekend, Phillipe Clement will be praying that the winger miraculously recovers as the Ibrox side struggled without his presence in the final third.
Abdallah Sima may have played his final game for Rangers
Having just returned from a hamstring injury which kept him out for a few months after he sustained it on duty with Senegal during the Africa Cup of Nations in January, Sima made an immediate impact in only his second game back against Celtic.
The on-loan winger was brought on for the second half before netting the second goal with just five minutes left, as Rangers scraped a 3-3 draw at Ibrox.
Against Hearts, however, he pulled up within 15 minutes and was subbed by Clement, who discussed his condition after the game, saying:
“We’re going to see and make an assessment tomorrow. He felt some tightness in his hamstring, I hope it’s not so bad. We hope we can have Abdallah in the next couple of weeks because he’s been really important in that period where he was fit and he was coming back now. So we will see.”
Goals
11
Assists
2
Key passes per game
0.9
Big chances created
2
Successful dribbles per game
1.3
With just five games left – four Premiership fixtures plus the Scottish Cup final – might the Ibrox faithful have seen the last of Sima?
Abdallah Sima’s stats for Rangers this season
Since arriving on loan last summer from Brighton and Hove Albion, Sima has been one of the club’s better performers in front of goal.
In 38 games, the 22-year-old has scored 16 goals while notching two assists, made even more impressive by the fact he missed a large chunk of the season due to his hamstring injury.
There is no doubt Clement will miss the player once he returns to Brighton this summer. Unless he can stump up the cash to sign him permanently, the Belgian will have to find a replacement who can fill the void left by the Senegal international.
The left-winger currently earns £8.5k-per-week during his loan spell, which is among one of the lowest wages in the squad, behind colleagues such as Kemar Roofe, Danilo and Rabbi Matondo, who haven’t contributed near as much as Sima has this term.
The Light Blues have a history of signing expensive flops on high wages, often failing to live up to the lofty expectations placed on them when they arrive in Glasgow.
One of the most notable recent examples is that of Cedric Itten, who arrived to plenty of excitement, only to stutter his way through two seasons at Ibrox.
How much Rangers paid for Cedric Itten
Ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, Steven Gerrard was desperate to bolster an attack that had stagnated in the months prior to the previous season being halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before Christmas, the Gers were in the mix for the league title, yet a run of just four wins out of nine following the winter break ensured the club slipped out of contention.
That summer, Roofe was brought in from Anderlecht along with Itten, who Gerrard signed from Swiss side FC St Gallen for a transfer fee believed to be around £3m, which indicated that he was of high quality.
It soon became apparent that Gerrard had overpaid massively for the Swiss striker.
Cedric Itten’s Rangers statistics
Having scored 36 goals in just 63 games for St Gallen, it looked like Rangers had signed a player who certainly knew where the back of the net was.
His first season at the Light Blues was hardly a success, despite them ending a ten-year wait for a league title. Across 37 games, Itten managed to score just six goals, while grabbing a further three assists, hardly £3m worth of impact, let’s put it that way.
He was sent out on loan to German outfit Greuther Furth, netting just two goals in 12 appearances, although one did come against Bayern Munich.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst recalled him in January as he sought to give the striker a second chance at Rangers, yet he failed to grab the opportunity presented to him.
He scored just twice in seven games, surely ruining his chances of remaining with the club heading into the 2022/23 campaign.
That summer, he was sold for a cut price fee of just £1.5m, meaning the Gers had lost out on money by selling so cheaply as he returned to his homeland to join BSC Young Boys.
Cedric Itten's wage at Rangers
Not only did the centre-forward cost £3m to bring into the club in the first place, he was also earning £14k-per-week during his two-season stay, which included paying his wages while out on loan in the Bundesliga.
Combining his transfer fee plus total wages earned during his dismal spell in Glasgow, Itten rinsed the Ibrox side dry of around £4.5m. Considering he scored just eight goals in 48 appearances, it proved to be a massive waste of funds – earning even more than what Sima is currently making at the club.
Perhaps it was Scottish football that was the problem, as Itten has shone since returning to Switzerland. During his first season with Young Boys, he won the domestic double, registering 35 goal contributions – 23 goals and 12 assists – across 39 matches.
He may have only scored ten goals during his second season, but he is still performing fairly well.
Hopefully, Clement will avoid mistakes like those that were made by his predecessors as he looks to strengthen his first-team squad in the summer transfer window.
Itten is just one of a host of players who joined the club that failed to replicate their form which saw them secure a move in the first place.
With his budget uncertain, the Belgian may not have the funds to make expensive mistakes this summer.
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