By Ben Wild

21st Jan, 2021 | 8:39pm

'For me, the best' - Traore admits Rangers ace is better finisher than Robin van Persie

Former Arsenal and Juventus man Armand Traore has claimed that Rangers forward Jermain Defoe is the best finisher he has played with. 

This is one hell of a compliment considering that Traore spent time with top strikers like Robin van Persie in his career as the former defender name-dropped RVP before admitting Defoe was a better finisher.

Traore played with Defoe at Portsmouth during the 2008/09 season and it is safe to say that the Rangers man left his impression on the French defender.

Speaking on TalkSPORT, Traore said, “For me, the best finisher that I’ve played with is Jermain Defoe.

“I have never seen a striker hit the ball like this. He puts the ball where he wants.

“The goals that he scores, if you pay close attention, he puts the ball in places that are very hard to hit.”

We all know that Defoe is an excellent finisher but hearing praise like this from someone who has experienced the 38-year-old’s talent first hand really puts into perspective just how highly he is rated.

Gers fans witnessed Defoe’s extraordinary finishing earlier this season as he expertly took down a long ball before stroking it into the bottom corner in one fluid movement against Livingston.

It was an outrageous goal and there are few players on the planet who are capable of pulling off such a nonchalant finish.

This was the former England international’s 300th career goal but he won’t have scored many that looked as satisfying as that.

It was also Defoe’s first league goal of the season and he has only scored one since with his opportunities at Ibrox limited this season.

At 38, Defoe doesn’t have much of a career left but it is brilliant that we got to witness such a prolific finisher score goals in the blue of Rangers.

Hopefully, we’ll see it again before he hangs up his boots.

In other Rangers news, a club chief has suggested that a Gers linked forward will not be moving on this month.