View: Sunderland striker Ross Stewart should be top of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s striker shopping list at Rangers
Giovanni van Bronckhorst should be looking no further than Sunderland’s Ross Stewart as the Rangers boss looks to bolster his attacking line this summer.
The 25-year-old Scott has notched 26 league goals and three assists for the Blackcats in what has been a superb season for the striker.
As reported by the Northern Echo [13 April], the Gers are reportedly keeping tabs on the Sunderland frontman.
Stewart has been an instrumental part of Sunderland’s promotion campaign, scoring against Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-final and in the final against Wycombe Wanderers.
With Rangers lacking a focal point up front, Stewart would be the perfect player to provide a variety of attacking threat up front.
The Gers have had plenty of success recruiting from England’s third tier in recent years and they should certainly be delving into the same market again.
Kemar Roofe, John Lundstram and Joe Aribo were plucked from the likes of Oxford United and Charlton Athletic.
Stewart has all the attributes to perform at the same level.
As per Wyscout, Stewart has an expected goals and assists of 30.63, which is slightly higher than his actual output of 29 goals and assists.
This demonstrates that this season was not a fluke occurrence, with a mixture of excellent finishing or just getting lucky resulting in his high output.
He regularly creates goalscoring opportunities, as well as taking up dangerous positions.
Furthermore, Stewart has featured in 49 League One matches this season.
With Rangers regularly going deep into cup competitions, his durability and robustness could well come in handy.
Stewart is a constant threat for Sunderland averaging 2.5 shots per game and amassing the second most touches in the opposition penalty area in the League with 210.
The Scot is a modern striker who possesses a variety of attributes that makes him a nightmare to play against.
He wins the majority of his headers, holds the ball up superbly, is a threat running the channels and has proven to be very clinical in front of goal this season.
Rangers need depth up-front and Stewart should be who they turn to.
In other Rangers news, the club are ‘not convinced’ by a key first-team player and an early termination of his contract is extremely likely.