Scout claims Abdallah Sima was a Rangers transfer target years before move to Ibrox
Rangers scout Piotr Kasprzak has claimed Adballah Sima was on the club’s radar years before he made the loan move to Ibrox in the summer transfer window.
The scout has suggested that the deal would not have been on the cards if they weren’t aware of his talent from their previous scouting of his game after he impressed in a Europa League clash for Slavia Prague.
Rangers apparently were unable to spend the money the Czech side wanted at the time, but after he moved to Brighton and a loan move became an option, their past work had come to fruition.
Speaking via the Liverpool Echo on 7 November, Kasprzak shared: “We remembered him from the times of Slavia Prague. He played in a satellite club, joined Slavia and became a sensation.
“He even scored a goal against us in the European cups. We rated him highly, but we simply couldn’t spend that much money on him at the time. He went to Brighton, then went on loan to France, came back and now has been loaned to Rangers.
“Probably if it weren’t for the fact that we had him in our database from the times of Slavia and he was stuck in our memory, we wouldn’t have gone for him in the summer, because his name wouldn’t mean much to us. And now he is one of our best players.
“This past work has come to fruition, albeit with a delayed start.”
An interesting insight
The Gers scout has provided an interesting insight into the scouting network at Ibrox and how they go about their business in terms of tracking players. In Sima’s case, he impressed in games against them, and they kept his record on their books in case the opportunity ever arose.
This has proved beneficial for Rangers as the star man has already proved his worth this season, coming in as one of the only impressive summer signings for Michael Beale before further excelling under the management of Philippe Clement so far.
The suggestion that the Glasgow club may not have pursued this deal if not for their previous scouting work provides a view as to the importance of historical scouting and keeping players in mind who have impressed in the past.
They probably assumed the possibility of a move to the blue side of Glasgow was over after Sima made the switch to Brighton, but two years later he, as Kasprzak claims, has become one of the standout players at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, a key man will be missing from the Europa League fixture on Thursday.