He may be an unfamiliar name, but Southampton’s Josh Sims is a player that should be on Rangers radar for several reasons.
The 23-year old winger is very much a rough diamond but can be picked up for nothing at the end of the season when his contract expires at St. Mary’s.
He has just rejoined League One Doncaster, for the remainder of the season following a very productive first half of this term with Darren Moore’s side where he registered an impressive three goals and seven assists with the club.
Sims made his Southampton breakthrough back in November 2016 when he set up the winning goal for Charlie Austin in the first minute of his debut, in a 1-0 home Premier League win over Everton.
Two months later, he played a key role to secure Southampton’s place in the League Cup final, assisting Shane Long’s goal with a lung-bursting run in the 1-0 win at Anfield, putting the gloss on a 2-0 aggregate victory.
Shane Long scores a list minute winner vs Liverpool back in January 2017 to send them to the FINAL of the league cup, what a moment.#SaintsFC #SFC #Southampton #LFC #Liverpool pic.twitter.com/5DSkPDLPjG
— Genuine Movement (@GenuineLimbs) May 27, 2018
The player is likely to be known to Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson, following his time at Southampton.
Ahead, of his return to Doncaster, Sims was said to have offers from a few Championship clubs including QPR.
In just over four years, he has made 27 appearances with three assists for his parent club.
Interestingly, Sims went to New York Red Bulls on loan in 2019 and after impressing his contract was extended only for the spell to be curtailed early due to the pandemic.
In an inteview with The Athletic, Josh Sims said of himself,
“My main attributes are my speed and agility,”
“Growing up, that was always my biggest strength, and it still is now: having the ball at my feet and running at players with a low centre of gravity.”
“The area I think I need to improve most on is the end product. You need regular game time to build confidence, score goals and to assist — having moments here and there in the final 10 minutes of a game makes it difficult to improve.”
It is primarily for game time and development that the player has returned to Doncaster. If he keeps up his early season form, he will be playing at a higher level next season.
Rangers should be keeping tabs on Sims for this reason.