Clement admits defeat on re-signing Abdallah Sima | OneFootball

Rangers will not be re-signing Brighton forward Abdallah Sima after it was confirmed the Premier League side, as reported by Ibrox Noise, are unwilling to reduce their asking price of £7M and manager Philippe Clement has conceded defeat at that price.

The attacker after an immensely stuttering start to life at Rangers, became a bit of a goal machine, until injury derailed his season badly around the start of the year following a knock sustained on international duty at the AFCON.

And with the transfer window now underway in earnest, Brighton aren’t shifting from their hardline position of a £7M fee for the Senegal man.

Clement said:

The most disquieting aspect here is that Clement rates Sima so highly that he admits happily he’s desperate for the boy to come back.

This is the same manager who stuck by the hapless and horrible Fabio Silva no matter how badly he played, defending him endlessly and picking him over infinitely better options.

And we all know that aside the pure goalscoring and spot of defending Sima has nothing to his game and is terrible for losing the ball – it calls Clement’s judgement into question (again) if he is desperate for this player.

Sima was 82nd in the SPL for losing the ball (339 times) but only played half of the season compared with all those above him – he was 25th for being dispossessed (32 times).

His ball retention is horrible, and his passing worse – he was 225th in the SPL for passing accuracy at 68%, third worst at Ibrox ahead only of Silva and Roofe.

So why the manager seeks him back with such desperation we’re not sure, but we question a lot about this manager’s judgement and this is no different.

Either way, the boy isn’t coming because, again, Rangers can’t afford him – Brighton won’t allow another loan. This time it’s a sale or nothing.