Danilo may be Rangers saviour under new manager – The numbers prove it
Rangers have a striker crisis on their hands; they just don’t know it.
After Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe’s takeover at Ibrox, Kevin Thelwell spent nearly £15million on new central attacking options.
Russell Martin has since been sacked by Rangers, after trying both Bojan Miovski and Youssef Chermiti in all competitions for the Light Blues.
Steven Gerrard has since rejected the job at Ibrox, with Danny Rohl the new favourite for the role.
Who could the German have as his number nine? Danilo may be the answer.
Danilo set for another chance at Ibrox
It has been a season of every emotion for the Brazilian already at Rangers.
When Martin first arrived, Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane were clearly on the way out, leaving Danilo with massive pressure on his shoulders to deliver.
The South American has only been given seven minutes of action since 28 August, despite the clear need for more goals in the final third.
Danilo scored against Club Brugge in the Champions League and also delivered 17 goal contributions over the past two seasons, despite suffering injuries and having no consistent game time.
When given time to lead the line with players around him, Danilo has exploded, as shown by his 61 contributions in the Netherlands over 111 games at Ajax, Feyenoord and Twente.
If given one last chance by the new manager, these numbers would prove he deserves it, but it could be the final shot he gets to make it at Ibrox.
Who would Danilo replace?
Some believe that the former Feyenoord man would be better in a formation with two strikers, but that hasn’t been seen at Rangers for years now.
With Chermiti and Miovski more target men who can poach to finish in the box, Danilo’s flair and trickery could work perfectly with either of them.
One thing is for sure, though: the two signings need to improve.
Looking at the Sofascore stats graphic above, Chermiti and Miovski are actually the two worst average-rated Rangers players so far this season, with Lyall Cameron just ahead of them.
The former Everton man is yet to score and also only wins 29.3 per cent of his duels, failing to convert any of his 1.78 shots per 90 minutes.
Miovski isn’t much better either, despite more trust from Martin, winning only 28.2 per cent of duels and only converting one of his four big chances.
The North Macedonian is in pole position to start alongside Danilo if the system changes, but whoever the manager is, they could do worse than to try a new attacking formation.
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