Daniel Feliciano

Sun 13 February 2022 19:40, UK

When Giovanni van Bronckhorst arrived at Rangers in November, his attack basically picked itself for him to forge a title charge.

Alfredo Morelos is the first-choice centre-forward and his goal record justifies that automatic starter position he has.

Ryan Kent has made the left-wing his own too since joining the club from Liverpool under Steven Gerrard, with his pace and trickery making him a constant threat for the opposition.

At the time of his arrival, it was Ianis Hagi who was initially given the right-winger role despite being a natural number ten. It didn’t suit him the best, but he was too good to leave out and good enough to make it work.

In January, Hagi suffered a season-ending knee injury against Aberdeen and Rangers’ plans were rocked. They reacted quickly however in the transfer market, signing Manchester United winger Amad Diallo on loan for the rest of the campaign within days.

It seemed like a masterstroke at the time. Amad was signed for eight figures by United from Atalanta despite barely featuring in the first-team beforehand. That tells you how highly he is rated.

His Ibrox career started well too, scoring just four minutes into his debut against Ross County and terrorising their defence.

The Rangers midfield consistently gave him the ball and he kept causing problems, before being forced off with cramp. Rangers were held to a 3-3 draw in that game.

He then started against Celtic and was rotten. The atmosphere got to him, the occasion was too big and Celtic were too physical and Amad was hooked at half-time.

Fashion Sakala was brought on and has played ahead of him ever since and done really well. The Zimbabwe international scored off the bench against Hearts when Amad didn’t get on the pitch, and then got another in the cup win over Annan when they played together.

But when you watch them play, despite those performances, it’s clear that Amad is the man Rangers should be looking to to play that position for the rest of the season.

Sakala’s preference is to play as a striker, but as mentioned, that position is Morelos’.

Obviously, the sample sizes are incredibly small, but they still paint a picture. According to WhoScored, Amad averages more shots per game (2 to 1.8), gets fouled more often (1 to 0.8) and holds a more natural winger position on average [Opta].

That natural width helped him to score the goal he scored on his debut, as he stretched the defence way before the ball ever got near him and that allowed him the space to pounce when the ball became free.

He showed it again later in the game, and the threat he has with being able to go both directions was on show too.

Amad is left-footed, but his agility and skill means he can go either way and it leaves the full-back bamboozled at how to stop him.

On this occasion, he cut inside on his left foot and took a shot which ultimately led to James Tavernier’s equaliser as seen below.

But he can also go to his right and beat players, as he showed in the first-half against Celtic where he manipulated the ball in a tight space to beat two defenders.

This unpredictability, this skill and this raw talent is exactly why Rangers brought him in in the first place.

Van Bronckhorst went with his instinct that the club needed reinforcements to deal with Hagi’s injury and that Sakala alone wasn’t enough to fill the void.

Rangers now must trust that instinct and play him through the hint of bad form that can be expected from young players, in order to get the brilliance when we hit the business end of the season.

In other Rangers news, Giovanni van Bronckhorst drops injury update on Rangers star after midweek reveal