Ryan Naderi letting himself down in key area, it must change to become Rangers starter
Rangers haven’t seen the best of Ryan Naderi since his winter move to Glasgow.
Joining Rangers in a last-minute deal worth a reported fee of £4.7million in this season’s winter transfer window, Naderi is hoping to evolve into Gers’ striker of the future.
The 22-year-old German hit eight goals and provided four assists in 18 3.Liga appearances for Hansa Rostock in the first half of this season, before getting a dream move to Ibrox in February.
So far, he’s made four Scottish Premiership appearances in Danny Rohl‘s side, with just one of them coming from the start, as both Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski provide stern competition for minutes.
He’s been bright and positive in his early cameos though, but there are still some clear signs that he’s a raw and unrefined talent at this stage of his career.
Ryan Naderi needs to get up to speed physically
It goes without saying, but making the jump from the German third tier to the Scottish Premiership is a significant one, especially for a young player.
As such, it’s certainly not a criticism of Naderi to say he’s started slow in Glasgow, as this was always likely going to be the case.
His two goals against Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup have seen him open his Gers scoring account too, but he’s yet to find the net or indeed a goal contribution in the league so far.
However, if he is to do that sooner rather than later, then there are some clear areas in which he needs to sharpen up in.
Standing at 6’4″ tall, Naderi is a big and imposing centre-forward that looks capable of handling the physical demands of Scottish football, but as per Sofascore, has only won 35 per cent of his aerial duels so far.
He’s also won just 32 per cent of his ground duels too, both of which are going to have to improve as time goes on if he is to start getting the better of big, tough Premiership centre-backs.
Naderi is also yet to create a single big chance for a teammate, is still waiting to register his first shot on target and has completed just 70 per cent of his pass attempts successfully, all of which must improve.
Chermiti’s numbers set target for Naderi
Part of Naderi’s early Rangers test is to see if he can oust Chermiti from the starting lineup, but that’s proving easier said than done.
The Portuguese striker has seven goals and two assists in 20 Premiership appearances this season, and some of his underlying numbers show why he’s getting the nod over Naderi.
As per Sofascore, the 21-year-old has won 54 per cent of his aerial duels and 48 per cent of his total duels, whilst also registering an average of one shot on target per 90 minutes.
These are all considerably better than the figures Naderi is posting right now, albeit with a significant more amount of time on the pitch, but they should be targets for Gers’ new man to strive for.
For even more Rangers news and opinions, head over to Football Insider.