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12 minutes ago, bennett said:

 

The sun saying that a deals been agreed.  Is he Alfredo's replacement?

 

EXCLUSIVE: Fashion Sakala agrees four-year deal to sign for Rangers as Steven Gerrard strengthens for next season

Edit. From the official Twitter account. 

 

🆕 Welcome Sakala 🆕

📝 #RangersFC are today delighted to announce that a pre-contract has been agreed with Fashion Sakala, and he will join from Belgian side KV Oostende in the summer-subject to international clearance and a work permit being received.

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12 minutes ago, TommyLeePwns said:

Style of player is he mate?

Brilliant physical player. He’s not just fast over distance, he’s explosive over short distance in the same way that Kent is. He’ll be the fastest player in the league. He’s also a goal scorer. 

Said before I see him playing the Kent role and I still see that, but I think you could play him up top in Europe in a way that you can’t do with Kent. Flip side is I think he’s less suited to playing with opposition players in front of him.

I posted a bit more about him a few pages back. 

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2 hours ago, G51 said:

Brilliant physical player. He’s not just fast over distance, he’s explosive over short distance in the same way that Kent is. He’ll be the fastest player in the league. He’s also a goal scorer. 

Said before I see him playing the Kent role and I still see that, but I think you could play him up top in Europe in a way that you can’t do with Kent. Flip side is I think he’s less suited to playing with opposition players in front of him.

I posted a bit more about him a few pages back. 

Was going to say, sounds like the first thing the SPL jobbers will do is throw bodies at him to deny him space. 

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6 minutes ago, TommyLeePwns said:

Was going to say, sounds like the first thing the SPL jobbers will do is throw bodies at him to deny him space. 

Almost certainly, but we’ll still play plenty of games in a season where teams won’t do that. Celtic x4, European groups x6, qualifiers x4 plus any knockout games after. 

I also think he has the dribbling ability that means he might be able to play in condensed areas, he just didn’t do it for Oostende cause they were a counter attacking team. His actual play in tight spaces was fairly okay from what I watched, and he can definitely dribble.

It’s an interesting signing overall. Gerrard and Wilson both said he fits a profile that were recruiting for, which was intriguing because I don’t think we have a player quite like him. I originally thought he was a Kent replacement but I’m less sure the more I watch.

Edited by G51
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1 hour ago, G51 said:

Almost certainly, but we’ll still play plenty of games in a season where teams won’t do that. Celtic x4, European groups x6, qualifiers x4 plus any knockout games after. 

I also think he has the dribbling ability that means he might be able to play in condensed areas, he just didn’t do it for Oostende cause they were a counter attacking team. His actual play in tight spaces was fairly okay from what I watched, and he can definitely dribble.

It’s an interesting signing overall. Gerrard and Wilson both said he fits a profile that were recruiting for, which was intriguing because I don’t think we have a player quite like him. I originally thought he was a Kent replacement but I’m less sure the more I watch.

True, getting our business done nice and early while Celtic are still walking about Parkheed with their thumbs in their mouths, looking in cupboards and asking if anybody fancies the manager's job. 

 

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With 131 goals and counting, Rangers are leading the way in Europe for attacking football and they stand five strikes clear of the Bundesliga behemoths.

Premiership winners Rangers are leading the way in Europe for attacking football and could finish the campaign as continental top scorers.
Sunday's 4-1 win over Celtic saw Steven Gerrard's side notch their 131st goal in all competitions this season, 85 of which have been scored in the league.
And that haul marks the Scottish champions out as the continent's most lethal side as the 2020-21 season comes to a close

 

The Ibrox club are five goals clear of German giants Bayern Munich, whose fearsome attack-first mentality saw them romp to a treble last season although they were disposed of by Paris Saint-Germain in Europe this term.
RB Salzburg, Ajax and Red Star Belgrade all follow on 124 to round off the top five.

Some of Europe's big names then follow with Champions League finalists Manchester City in sixth, Barcelona in seventh and Tottenham in eighth. Europa League foes Slavia Prague pop up in ninth with PSG finishing the top 10.

Rangers have played more games than some of the sides in the table but their goals per game ratio still trumps the likes of City and Barca - and here's how the table looks courtesy of Transfermarket.

 

 

Europe's top scorers

Team Goals Goals per game
Rangers 131 2.42
Bayern Munich 126 2.68
RB Salzburg 124 2.81
Ajax 124 2.58
Red Star Belgrade 124 2.48
Manchester City 119 2.12
Barcelona 117 2.34
Tottenham Hotspur 116 2.00
Slavia Prague 115 2.44
PSG 115 2.21
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Football Stewart's scouting report for Fashion Sakala is out. As usual, he's really worth reading.

He did mention that Sakala has an incredible backstory that's worth looking up, and he isn't wrong. The Record republished it today: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/fashion-sakalas-remarkable-rangers-journey-24041829

Quote

Telling his remarkable story, he said: “I come from a Zambian village close to the border with Malawi.

“I'm from a very poor family, but I'm not ashamed of that. On the contrary, I am proud of it because my story shows how you can change a life.

“We had nothing at home, not even food. Very soon my family was counting on me to take care of it.

“I did that by hunting in the bush. I hunted impalas and rabbits with the help of dogs. At one point, we had 18 dogs at home. I went out into the bush with the dogs for six or seven hours a day, until we hunted, cornered and killed the animals.

“I did that between the ages of ten and sixteen. Daily. If you are poor, you quickly learn how to survive. So I paid little attention to school. People who are hungry have difficulty concentrating.

"I have four sisters and two younger brothers, they speak Nyanja. They all count on me to help them. My sisters and her children, my father's siblings and their children, even people who have no family ties. I have many responsibilities.

“In my village, they called me 'captain' because I was trying to protect my family. My father did his best, but he didn’t have a proper job, nor the strength or the courage to do like me. But that does not detract from his qualities.

“He was a good father. I don't blame him for our poverty. He was a good footballer himself. To give an example of how poor we were, we didn't have a TV at home until 2008. One of the first football players I saw playing was Cristiano Ronaldo, which is why he is my hero.

"I have to be careful with my career or we risk falling back into poverty. But I see it as a blessing that I can do that, it motivates me."

“Actually my name is Timothy. That was my father's first name too, but because he dribbled so well when he was a player, they called him Fashion...like style.

“His nickname became more important than his real name over time. When I was born he called me Timothy, but others insisted on Fashion.

“That's now what it says on my passport...Fashion Sakala. I have something special - a gift from God. I see the future in my dreams.

"One day my father was listening to the radio and he heard about trials at a football school a long way away.

“We went there by bicycle. We had one bike and we sat on it together somehow and crawled along for a six-hour journey!

"It was a terrible trip and my father was a hero for that. It was the last day of the trials and a lot of boys had already been chosen.

“I felt lost, didn't speak English, didn't know how to dress, people made fun of me. But I had dreamed beforehand that I would be selected, so I persisted.

"God helped that day. In the first half, I scored three times. At half time I switched camp and scored five times. It was 5-3 and I had scored all the goals!

“Of course, I was allowed to stay. There, at that football school, I later learned English too. Initially, everyone laughed at me, but that stopped when I played.

“After a year in that school, a team from the Zambian Premier League picked me up. My father didn't believe that at first.

“When people from the city come to get your son, you can think of anything. Maybe they will kill him or do bad things to him...that's what he thought.

"He then called the club president and he assured him that it was serious. Then he gave me his blessing. That was around 2013 when I was sixteen.

 

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