4/10 Rangers star looks like January’s biggest failure

Glasgow Rangers maintained their reasonable chances of winning the Scottish Premiership title with a 1-0 win over St Mirren on Sunday.

With eight games remaining, only three points separate third-placed Rangers and first-placed Hearts, with the top three teams having played the same number of games, making for an exciting end to the season.

Danny Rohr’s side secured all three points for Paisley as left-back Toul Rommens snuck in at the back post and slotted Nicholas Raskin’s cross into the back of the net for Gers’ first goal.

Despite winning the game and still being in the title race, there were some downsides from the win against St Mirren as some players failed to step up.

Ryan Naderi, for example, has failed to get on the scoresheet in six consecutive games since arriving from Hansa Rostock for £4.7 million in the January transfer window.

Why the Rangers failed to sign Ryan Naderi

Hopefully, the German striker can be a huge success at Ibrox and prove his doubters wrong, but the early signs from the 22-year-old are anything but encouraging.

Rangers needed a quality player in the final third this season to improve their chances of winning the Premiership title, but they took the risk of signing the German third-tier forward for a transfer fee of around £5m.

So far, Naderi looks like a player who had never played in Germany’s third tier or above before his move to Ibrox, with his only two goals coming against Queen’s Park in the SFA Cup.

So, at this point, signing a 6-foot-4 shooter over the winter appears to have been a mistake, as he hasn’t made the instant impact needed.

In the 1-0 win over St Mirren, the German attacker failed to convert four shots on goal and create no chances for his team-mates, but he won six of nine aerial duels, making 19 appearances in total and working hard for his team off the ball.

However, despite his overall struggles to put on a Rangers shirt, the club made an even bigger mistake than signing Naderi during the January transfer window.

Biggest mistake Rangers made in January

The Light Blues made sudden signings of Romens, Naderi, Tochi Chukwani and Andreas Skov-Olsen during the winter to strengthen their squad.

Rangers had the opportunity to sign a number of players following bids from other clubs, but decided against making a quick move for Youssef Cermiti and Jaydee Gassama.

The Light Blues have turned down a £13m offer from Fenerbahce for the Portuguese centre-forward and a £10m offer from AS Monaco for the former Sheffield Wednesday winger.

In retrospect, not accepting Monaco’s £10m bid to reap a return on the £2.2m they spent on the Frenchman last summer looks like the biggest mistake of the January transfer window.

In the win against St Mirren, Gassama was even worse than the aforementioned Naderi. The German tested the goalkeeper at least four times and showed his presence in the air, but the game ended without a shot on target or a chance for his team.

His worst moment came early in the first half when Ruskin carried the ball wide for an almost free shot towards goal, and when he sliced ​​the shot on the outside of his boot shot wide of goal.

In addition to struggling in the final third, the former England Championship star was underwhelming overall, completing just 12 passes in almost an hour on the pitch.

Speaking before the game, former Rangers forward Chris Boyd said he wouldn’t be surprised if the club signed Gassama in the summer due to his lack of consistency.

The French attacker has made 30 appearances for Gers this season in the Premiership, starting 23 of them, but has scored just two goals and provided three assists.

Since a £10m bid from Monaco was rejected on January 27, Gassama has made seven Premiership appearances for Rangers, registering zero goals and one assist, but failed to win in four of those games.

Instead of banking on £10m that they could have spent on a player who was ready to come on and make an impact on the pitch straight away, Rangers opted to keep a player who had failed to perform consistently as a regular starter in the league.

Given his instability and overall poor form in the Premiership, it’s hard to think that rejecting Monaco’s bid was the window’s biggest mistake, and an even bigger one than signing Naderi, who was more effective than him on Sunday.