Ibrox Noise
·21 August 2024
Rangers finally say goodbye to Abdallah Sima amid move
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·21 August 2024
Rangers can finally at long last say goodbye to Abdallah Sima and any ‘hopes’ of signing him after the Senegalese closed in on a loan to Champions League side Brest, in Ligue 1, with the French side finishing a stunning third in the country’s top flight to secure the UCL and third only to typical Ligue 1 giants PSG and Monaco.
Sima has been long-linked to Rangers, but despite a tonne of pro-Rangers lip service while at Ibrox, the forward was very keen to ingratiate himself back to Brighton on his return to his parent club with a recent positive ‘happiness’ post or two on social media, indicating he knew 100% he wasn’t returning to Ibrox and was preparing for the next stage of his career.
The hype of his being signed was driven mostly by the manager, by Philippe Clement, who confirmed the club would try to keep the boy, despite the fact a lot of fans weren’t completely enthused by him.
It’s bizarre to say it about a lad with 16 goals in 40 Rangers appearances, but unlike Cyriel Dessers Sima did absolutely nothing for the team aside scoring (and 16 in 40 is not spectacular).
He couldn’t pass, dribble, shoot, or assist, doing none of the above to any effect in his entire season in Govan – Ibrox Noise was incredibly wary of any intention to sign him for the kind of money Brighton were apparently wanting.
Clement confirmed their numbers were too high, the seaside team wanting around £7M for the ‘winger’.
Indeed, the bizarre oddity of Sima is that he played ‘as’ a winger, but could not be one, and his goals came from drifting into the box, not being marked, and finding the back of the net with lots of space.
That in itself is a talent, we agree with that, but it meant we had no outlet on the left at all – Sima just couldn’t provide from that flank.
He provided, as a winger, just two assists in those 40 appearances. That’s abysmal in anyone’s language.
It does make us question Clement’s judgement yet again that he refused to drop the hopeless Fabio Silva and was willing to do what it took to sign Abdallah Sima despite his lack of contribution for that money and, of course, the injuries. We’d really doubt someone who thinks this way.
But then there’s the Brest oddity. The Ligue 1 high-flyers intend to bring him back to France when his spell there with Angers yielded just 6 goals in 34 and another 2 assists.
He’s failed before in that league!
We wish the boy the best, he was a nice enough guy, but despite what the manager thinks, he didn’t fit Rangers and he won’t be coming back.
He got to play for the Famous, that’s pretty decent.