It might be an unpopular opinion but, I think Ross Wilson has actually done a decent job in his time as sporting director.
A lot of his signings are judged against a criteria which doesn’t match the remit he was given when he signed them, for example, the likes of Scott Wright and Jack Simpson weren’t bought to score 30 goals a season or become the next club captain, they were bought to add depth to a squad that desperately lacked it with the hope that they could be developed and potentially sold on at a profit. In the next few years, their positions will likely be taken by academy prospects like Alex Lowry and Leon King.
The biggest failure has to be Cedric Itten but few were complaining about him when he arrived, he’d just finished the season as top goal scorer in Switzerland, had just broken into the international side and was a decent prospect. A fee of somewhere between £2-3million, depending on reports, wasn’t a bad deal considering Celtic paid £5m for Albian Ajeti.
Alternate and, perhaps, more popular options were Lyndon Dykes and Kevin Nisbet but we would have had to overpay for them and they would still only be third choice, at best, however, this remains the biggest issue in the squad – depth of goalscorers.
Fashion Sakala has hit double figures in his first season from very little comparable game time, he is very raw but does cause opposition defences problems, however, he is better coming off the left-hand side. We desperately – still – need an option on the right wing.
Money will always be an object and in Ola Solbakken we have the perfect fit for our player trading model. He’s 23-years old, has been capped by Norway and is available on a pre-contract agreement or cut-price deal in the summer, he also knows how to beat Celtic having been pivotal in putting them out the Europa Conference League with Bodo/Glimt.
Come to the famous sweet prince pic.twitter.com/HaQoKP0OGR
— LJ (@Lachlan1872) April 4, 2022
The 6ft plus winger – who is left-footed but plays on the right – has seven goals and three assists from 15 appearances so far this season, the Norwegian league having a different timetable to ours hence the contract situation.
Can Rangers still win the league?
Yes
No
I’m hoping that the reason we only brought Amad Diallo in on loan was because we already have a move for Solbakken lined up, a transfer that would solve a long-term problem and relieve a lot of pressure off Ross Wilson – if Rangers have a big summer ahead, he has an even bigger one.