Kemar Roofe must help Rangers’ striking woes after European recall
Kemar Roofe has been recalled to Michael Beale’s Rangers’ European squad for the Gers’ Europa League campaign, having missed out on the squad for the Champions League qualifying.
The Jamaican forward missed a majority of last season with injury, being limited to only four appearances in the Scottish Premiership, but has appeared in three of the Light Blues’ opening four games of the domestic season this year.
It is slightly surprising to see Roofe playing such an important role in Beale’s side this year after the huge turnover at Ibrox this summer which saw Sam Lammers, Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Abdallah Sima join the ranks as forwards.
But none of the new striking options have hit the ground running in Glasgow, with nobody managing to score more than one goal in the early stages of the domestic campaign and Dessers still waiting for his first in the Scottish Premiership.
That has seen Roofe called into action following his injury, scoring in the win over Ross County before controversially seeing his strike in the Old Firm derby ruled out because of an alleged foul in the build-up by Dessers.
Return the trust
Despite the Gers’ poor start to the season, some fans and pundits have afforded the new signings and Beale patience as it will likely take time for such a new group to adapt to playing alongside one another, especially with 11 additions at Ibrox.
But Roofe doesn’t have that excuse, he has been a Rangers player since 2020 and during such a difficult time for Beale’s side, he needs to be able to call upon players he can trust to produce positive results and ease the pressure on both him and his side.
The striker has a belief that he can still be the most important forward at Ibrox despite the huge influx of talent. When asked whether or not he was the best finisher in Beale’s side, he replied with a grin “no comment’ [Daily Record, 3 September].
While he may be an excellent finisher, Roofe has barely shot since he returned from injury, only aiming for the goal twice, with one of those being his strike against Ross County. [Whoscored].
Now that he has been dimmed fit enough to return to European action and seems to be one of Beale’s preferred options to lead the frontline, the Jamaican forward needs to do more to test the keeper, having only produced an expected goals of 0.17 in 130 minutes of action [Fotmob].
Hopefully, Roofe can remain fit and healthy and if the Light Blues create the chances for him, Beale couldn’t have a better finisher at his disposal.
In other Rangers news, Borna Barisic has been dubbed key to Croatia’s success this international break