John Bennett in danger of fan backlash at Rangers as Abdallah Sima news emerges in last 24 hours
Rangers chairman John Bennett may have set himself up for major unrest at Ibrox after news emerged regarding Abdallah Sima’s summer loan move from Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Scottish Sun reported on 24 October that the Gers do not have an option to buy Sima from the Seagulls in their loan agreement.
His current contract is due to expire in 2025 on the south coast and it’s reported that it’s unclear if Brighton would be willing to sell the Senegalese, with Rangers clearly impressed by his current form with nine goals in 16 games this season.
“Rangers don’t have an option to buy top scorer Abdallah Sima,” they wrote.
“The 22-year-old Senegal international moved to Ibrox from Brighton in the summer on a season-long loan deal.
“But it’s understood a purchase clause wasn’t included in the agreement with the Seagulls.
“After loan stints at Stoke and Angers, it’s unclear if Brighton would be willing to sell.”
While the likes of Dessers, Sam Lammers and Danilo have grabbed the headlines for their lack of goals since their summer moves, Sima has somewhat flown under the radar with some stunning individual showings during the club’s recent crisis.
We saw last season with Malik Tillman that having a buy-option in a loan deal is simply a smart and meticulous option to have, and while it didn’t work out too well for the Gers on that occasion, it seemed as if it would become a recurring transfer theme in future should the club pursue other loan deals.
A deal for Tillman got triggered only for Bayern Munich to veto it and give us some money as compensation, but the Gers now don’t have that luxury of ensuring Sima’s long-term future at the club or even another potential windfall in compensation making this failure to get a buy-option clause inserted in the deal quite bizarre by the Gers bosses, especially Bennett.
It now means if Rangers want to sign Sima permanently, they may face the prospect of having to pay a ridiculous fee for his services, with his contract up in 2025 or even a recall from the Seagulls in January cannot be ruled out either.
The buy-option decision is certainly looking quite silly now given his strong start to the campaign, as it would have been brilliant to have the option to secure Sima’s long-term future and Bennett is surely setting himself up for further unrest at Ibrox after this development.
The 22-year-old’s speed, dynamism, aggression and cutting-edge in the final now make him a crucial and undroppable commodity in Clement’s team and an instant hit within the Ibrox support.
Hopefully, Rangers can open talks with Brighton early about a permanent move if that is what Clement wants further down the line, but it’s certainly still early days to make any real decisions.
Still, the buy-back option would have proven a masterstroke insurance just like Tillman’s agreement did.
In other Rangers news, a highly-rated transfer guru has turned the club down following an approach.