Glasgow Rangers have endured their fair share of struggles this season, partly due to the fact they have laboured in front of goal.
Indeed, the Light Blues have scored just 17 Premiership goals across 12 matches. This tally is lower than St Mirren, Dundee United and Dundee, who are all below the club in the table.
Philippe Clement has been forced to persist with Cyriel Dessers as his number nine, yet the Nigerian has found the back of the net just ten times throughout the season so far.
His failings lie in his actual performances, however, as the player prefers to play facing the opposition goal, meaning he fails to link up with others behind him, often leaving the Light Blues playing with ten men during games.
How Clement and the club would love to have a striker who was competent in front of goal but also loved working with the midfield and wingers to create chances and bring others into play.
Alfredo Morelos is a prime example of a former Rangers striker who had all the attributes to not only score regularly but to drop deep when required. Just how well would he get on in this current team if he was at his peak?
Alfredo Morelos’ Rangers statistics
The Colombian forward moved to Ibrox in the summer of 2017 as Pedro Caixinha was looking to build a squad which could topple Celtic and end their domestic dominance.
He cost just £1m, a fee that would prove to be a bargain later on, but at the time, it was certainly a massive gamble.
The striker took to Scottish football with ease, scoring 18 goals during his debut season and this would only get better under the management of Steven Gerrard.
30 goals followed in 2018/19, while another 29 came during the 2019/20 campaign as Morelos thrived under Gerrard’s leadership, expanding his overall game to include linking up with others, rather than just being a main focal point.
He even began to break records too. In November 2020, Morelos scored his 22nd European goal for the Light Blues, breaking Ally McCoist’s record of 21 in the process, proving just how vital he was to the cause.
He won his first major honour with the club in 2021 as they claimed the Premiership title, but the next two seasons would see injury issues and a loss of form impact the player.
Season
Games
Goals
Assists
2022/23
45
12
7
2021/22
42
18
8
2020/21
44
17
13
2019/20
47
29
9
2018/19
48
30
12
2017/18
43
18
8
With Rangers racing towards the Europa League final in 2022, Morelos suffered an injury on international duty which kept him out for the rest of the season. Had he been fit, the Ibrox side may have defeated Eintracht Frankfurt.
Entering into the last year of his contract, it was clear Morelos’ head wasn’t quite in the right frame of mind as he scored just 12 goals during the 2022/23 season.
At one stage, it looked like the Gers would make a stunning profit on the player, but he chose to leave for free in May 2023 and hasn’t been the same since, currently playing for Atlético Nacional in his homeland.
Following Hamza Igamane’s European exploits, might the Moroccan striker have the potential to turn into Morelos 2.0 for the Light Blues? Especially as the pair share similar qualities.
Hamza Igamane’s Rangers statistics
The Belgian was keen to bring in another striker to bolster his first-team squad and there were several names linked throughout the summer transfer window.
A move for Igamane perhaps went slightly under the radar as not much was known about him. Indeed, he cost the club around £1.7m, which, for someone who had made only 58 senior appearances in his career, appeared a decent sum of money.
It was clear he would be battling it with Dessers and Danilo for the main attacking role in the team, yet this didn’t daunt him, despite taking a few months to finally make an impression at the club.
Igamane had to wait until September to make his first team debut for Rangers, and it came during the Old Firm defeat to Celtic. With ten minutes left, the Moroccan took to the field but didn’t have time to make any meaningful impact.
He was given 25 minutes against Dundee United two weeks later and his arrival on the pitch gave the fans a glimpse of what the future might hold. The striker was full of running and his neat touches and flicks certainly made him more dynamic than Dessers.
It has been on the European stage where the 22-year-old has made his biggest impact. Against FCSB in October, Igamane netted his first goal for the club during their 4-0 win in the Europa League.
Against OGC Nice in midweek, he was even better. Not only did the centre-forward score twice, but he also grabbed an assist, made three key passes and attempted six dribbles, of which two were successful.
The youngster also won four of his five aerial duels and this physical strength, combined with a natural goalscoring instinct and the ability to drop deep, indicates he has shadows of Morelos about him.
That is the verdict of former Dundee United goalkeeper Trevor Carson, at least, who previously claimed on the Open Goal Podcast that there is “a wee bit of Morelos about him”.
If given time to develop, Igamane could be a key part of the club’s future, especially if the display against Nice is a sign of things to come, having been praised for his “unbelievable composure and accuracy” by former Gers striker, Steven Thompson.
Perhaps he is one to watch in the present, as Dessers has struggled largely this season while Danilo is still looking to reach peak fitness.
Could this see the promising starlet achieve more game time in Europe and domestically over the next few weeks? He has the hallmarks of a truly wonderful striker, for that there is no doubt.
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