Michael Beale now set for ‘harsh’ Antonio Colak move at Rangers – Sky Sports pundit
Michael Beale will drop Antonio Colak to the Rangers bench and sign a new first-choice striker in January, according to Kris Boyd.
The Croatian has arguably been the leading performer at the club since his summer arrival, leading the SPFL scoring charts with 11 goals from a total of 14 in all competitions, while Kemar Roofe has been injured and Alfredo Morelos out of form.
But former Ibrox striker Boyd doesn’t think the 29-year-old’s playing style suits the new manager and a striker will be his priority in the winter transfer window.
Assessing Beale’s in-tray for Sky Sports [29 November] Boyd said: “I think Beale will need to go into the transfer market in January and find another striker who suits the system he wants to implement.
“Antonio Colak has had a very good start to his career at Ibrox but I don’t think his strengths are dropping in deep to link up play.
“It is a tough one and perhaps harsh on the player. He’s shown his ability in front of goal and will have a place in the squad, however, I don’t think he’ll be a natural starter under Beale.”
Ruthless
Having done pretty much everything that’s been asked of him since he was brought in, including scoring the goals which got Rangers back into the Champions League, Colak will feel pretty hard done by if this happens.
As the primary redeeming feature from an underwhelming summer of transfer arrivals that has put Ross Wilson in the firing line of the fans, the sporting director might be looking a bit shifty if the man he’s championed to take over then puts the goal scorer on the bench too.
But these are the decisions that he’s brought the former QPR boss in to make so if the 42-year-old needs a different striker that’s likely to be how it goes.
The situation would demonstrate clearly the difficulties of changing managers in a short space of time, especially without a huge budget in European terms.
One manager’s vision is unlikely to be the same as the next, otherwise there would be no use in changing, so unless they are completely ignored in the recruitment process it is going to leave the previous regime’s arrivals as white elephants under the new boss.
Wilson and the rest of the board need to have got this Beale appointment right, because changing the coaching staff and backing Beale in the market is going to cost overall, so there is unlikely to be scope to go through the same again any time soon.
In other Rangers news, a veiled dig about “snakes” and “vermin” appears to have been aimed at Beale by one of his former players.