Rangers transfer ‘mistake’ as Fashion Sakala announces exit despite ‘good deal’ – Jonny McFarlane
Fashion Sakala’s exit is a “good deal” for Rangers but “may well turn out to be a mistake” according to Jonny McFarlane.
The Rangers Review journalist reacted on Twitter to the Zambian forward’s exit announcement on Monday night (7 August) to suggest that the “chaos” the 26-year-old was capable of injecting into games often tipped the balance, while suggesting the 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock on Saturday was “exactly his sort of moment”.
Sakala is expected to join the exodus from European football to Saudi Arabia after Michael Beale signed a host of new attacking options this summer.
Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Abdallah Sima all started at Rugby Park in the opener, while Danilo came off the bench, but none could find the net as Rangers suffered a deflating defeat in their first challenge of the season.
X factor
Beale does need to trim players from his squad after making nine signings this summer, and the £3million fee [Scottish Daily Mail, 2 August, p.70] is not to be sniffed at for a player who arrived on a free transfer two years ago.
But there did seem to be good reason Sakala in the squad for the exact reason that McFarlane has suggested, especially since Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Antonio Colak have all left already.
He may have frustrated at times in the biggest games but Rangers still need to win matches they are expected to, and it wasn’t uncommon for Sakala to finally find his range late in the second half of a flat game against opponents who were frustrating the Light Blues to score.
Beale is going to have to find a way to get his new-look front line firing fast as there is no time for growing pains when Celtic have already moved ahead.
The attacking summer signings are all very encouraging on paper and should come good but with only Kemar Roofe around who has done it before for Rangers the pressure is on the new arrivals.
Moving on the likes of Scott Wright, Glen Kamara, and possibly Borna Barisic or John Lundstram if there were takers, would probably have made more sense before Sakala.
But the offer was on the table and the club looks to have taken the money, so it is now the manager’s job to find a way to get the goals he paid a lot for from the likes of Dessers and Danilo immediately.
In other Rangers news, another first-team sale is now certain amid a “when not if” verdict.