Rangers forward Nedim Bajrami delivers poor performance for Albania vs Poland
Rangers‘ Nedim Bajrami was poor for Albania in their World Cup qualification semi-final play-off defeat to Poland on Thursday night.
The 27-year-old started up front for Albania, but couldn’t help his side keep their dreams of making this summer’s World Cup alive in Warsaw, as they were beaten 2-1 by Poland.
Bajrami has seen precious little opportunities come his way for Rangers this season, making just three Scottish Premiership starts from his 12 league appearances.
That’s seen him culminate to just 320 minutes of league action this term, from which he’s contributed one goal and one assist.
As such, with just seven games of the season to play, the forward looks to be facing a very uncertain Ibrox future this summer.
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How did Nedim Bajrami perform for Albania vs Poland?
Bajrami is reportedly contracted until 2028 at Rangers, meaning that he doesn’t have to be on the chopping block this summer if Ibrox chiefs don’t want him to be.
However, his lack of minutes and production since his move from Sassuolo in the summer of 2024 would suggest that he’s not in the long-term plans in Glasgow.
| Bajrami’s stats from Albania vs Poland | Result |
|---|---|
| Shots (on target) | 2 (0) |
| Big chances missed | 1 |
| Touches | 25 |
| Defensive contributions | 0 |
| Key passes | 1 |
| Possession lost | 5 |
Therefore, he must have been looking at his inclusion in Albania’s starting lineup against Poland on Thursday as not only a massive opportunity to represent his country, but also to send a message to Rangers.
However, after 68 minutes, Albania manager Sylvinho dragged him off after he put in a hugely disappointing display that saw him miss one gilt-edged opportunity from inside the box too when Albania were 1-0 up.
As per Sofascore, Bajrami completed just one of his three dribble attempts successfully against Poland, and also made just two progressive carries with the ball.
He also won just one of his five ground duels, one of his four aerial duels, was dribbled past twice and made zero tackles or interceptions respectively.
All in all, it was a wasteful and ineffective showing from Bajrami, and one that won’t have Danny Rohl scrambling to include him in his next Rangers XI either.
Why Rangers could keep Bajrami beyond this summer
As aforementioned, Bajrami looks to be heading towards a transfer exit at Rangers this summer, but it might not be the foregone conclusion some believe it to be.
Firstly, Andreas Skov Olsen looks unlikely to have done enough for Gers to feel comfortable triggering his sizeable permanent option this summer, whilst Mikey Moore is also scheduled to return to Tottenham as things stand.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Matondo is sure to leave Ibrox, and the recent form of Djeidi Gassama and Oliver Antman will both be of concern to Rangers as well.
So, there could potentially be three wide players departing Ibrox before Rangers pretty much as soon as the season ends, and that would leave Rohl extremely thin on the ground in this department.
Therefore, Rangers may just wish to hold onto Bajrami in case their recruitment plans don’t work out they way they want, in order to ensure they aren’t left totally stripped of wingers to start the 2026-27 season.
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