George Overhill

Sun 5 November 2023 8:10, UK

Glen Kamara was the star of the show as Leeds United went to runaway English Championship leaders Leicester on Friday night and won to further illustrate the failure of the summer overhaul at Rangers.

The £5million arrival from Ibrox [The Athletic, 31 August] was called an “absolute machine” in the Whites midfield by Sky Sports pundit Jermaine Beckford at half-time of the live broadcast (3 November, 8.54pm) as he muscled opponents off the ball to set up counter attacks.

Fellow Sky pundit Jobi McAnuff said Kamara was “incredibly impressive” after the final whistle (10.05pm) and Times journalist Henry Winter singled the Finnish international out as “immense” on Twitter after the 1-0 result was confirmed, in the wake of a sparkling display in both the offensive and defensive areas of the game.

As Philippe Clement looks to continue his rescue job after replacing Beale in Glasgow he would surely love to call on just such a performer at Hampden Park against Hearts on Sunday (5 November).

With Nico Raskin unavailable through yet another Rangers injury he is faced with using a combination of John Lundstram, Ryan Jack, and Jose Cifuentes in his central midfield against the Jambos.

All have their merits but the former pair have been exposed under both Beale and predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst at times, while the latter arrived in the summer nominally to take Kamara’s place in the squad and hasn’t had a huge impact.

The Ecuador international was signed midway through the MLS season from LAFC at the end of a protracted pursuit by Beale, and despite some positive early showings has gone the same way as too many of the nine arrivals in the summer and flattered to deceive.

Perhaps he, Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers and others will come good and join Jack Butland, Danilo and Abdallah Sima as sensible signings.

But Beale knew he didn’t have time for an extended bedding in period and as his new-look squad struggled he was duly sacked after falling seven points behind Celtic.

Just as Dessers and Lammers haven’t yet proven to be more effective than Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak the same is true of Cifuents and Kamara.

The now-Elland Road stand-out had increasingly become an afterthought at Rangers while Beale was in charge and made just five appearances, four off the bench, in the SPFL from February onwards last term.

Both player and manager had made public statements suggesting an exit was inevitable long before Kamara eventually headed south of the border.

It may be, therefore, that he simply needed a change of environment, and while Beale was still just about entitled to the benefit of the doubt it seemed right for all parties for the 28-year-old to move on, especially for decent money.

It is admittedly easy to say with hindsight but with so many of Beale’s decisions having subsequently been proven wrong – or at best long-term answers when immediate solutions were needed – it is increasingly hard not to feel that much of the money he spent was wasted and that he may have squandered the talents of a player that Clement could be benefiting from.

Instead, Daniel Farke certainly is and the man of the match performance on Friday night to stifle the record-breaking Foxes proved that beyond doubt.

In other Rangers news, a “big move away” for a star man tipped for Ibrox may now never happen.