Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement was incredibly busy during the summer transfer window, as plenty of players moved in and out of Ibrox.
The Belgian boss, alongside head of recruitment Nils Koppen, allowed Jon McLaughlin, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Kemar Roofe, and John Lundstram to leave as free agents.
He also sanctioned the departures of Scott Wright, Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, and Ben Davies, among others, on permanent or loan deals to free up space for new signings.
The Light Blues manager swooped to sign Nedim Bajrami, Vaclav Cerny, Robin Propper, Hamza Igamane, Connor Barron, Jefte, and Clinton Nsiala, among others, to bolster his options across the pitch.
However, Clement was unable to secure a permanent deal to bring Abdallah Sima back to the club after his loan spell at Ibrox during the 2023/24 campaign.
That could now be seen as a big mistake by the club as the 23-year-old forward has scored three goals in two Champions League matches for Brest, including two against Salzburg on Tuesday night.
The winger spent last season on loan with the Gers from Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion and caught the eye with his performances.
Abdallah Sima's performances for Rangers
The Senegal international joined on a temporary basis under Michael Beale in the summer of 2023 and was inherited by Clement when the Belgian arrived to replace the English head coach in October 2023.
He had scored five goals in 34 games in Ligue 1 for Angers, on loan from Brighton, in the 2022/23 campaign and took his goalscoring output to the next level after his move to Scotland.
Sima racked up an impressive return of 16 goals and two assists in 40 appearances for the Ibrox giants in all competitions last term, including 11 goals in 25 outings in the Scottish Premiership.
Appearances
25
Starts
17
Goals
11
Assists
2
Big chances created
2
As you can see in the table above, the left winger produced 13 direct goal contributions in 17 starts in the top-flight for Rangers during his loan spell.
The right-footed wizard also caught the eye in the Europa League for the Light Blues with a return of three goals in six appearances in the competition, with zero assists from six chances created.
He did, however, struggle with two hamstring injuries that kept him out of action for 21 matches for club and country and that may have influenced their decision not to splash the cash in the summer to sign him permanently.
During the summer transfer window, Frank McAvennie suggested to Football Insider that the Gers could not afford £8m to sign the forward permanently, due to the renovations at Ibrox and the money needed to play at Hampden.
They did not land a permanent deal for the attacker before the end of the window and he joined Brest on loan from Brighton for the 2024/25 campaign.
However, there is another recent Rangers loanee whom the club’s failure to sign permanently was an even bigger mistake in hindsight – Malik Tillman.
Rangers failed to sign Malik Tillman permanently
After the attacking midfielder had enjoyed a fantastic time on loan with the Scottish giants in the 2022/23 campaign, Rangers were unable to strike a permanent deal for his services.
The USA international racked up 12 goals and five assists in 43 appearances in all competitions for the club during his year on loan in Glasgow, but they fumbled the chance to keep him before he had even kicked a ball in anger.
It was a strange situation for the Gers, though, as they did have an option to make the move permanent for a fee of around £5.8m from Bayern Munich.
However, it was reported that former Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson inserted an agreement with Bayern that they could cancel the buy option as there was an expectation that he would shine in Scotland and attract big money interest from elsewhere.
That allowed the German giants to null and void the £5.8m purchase option and, instead, pay the Gers £1m and 10% of any future sale of the midfielder.
Tillman eventually signed for Dutch giants PSV that summer for a reported fee of £12m, which meant that Rangers raked in £2.2m in total – including the compensation fee and sell-on percentage, instead of being able to sign him permanently for £5.8m.
That blunder from Wilson in negotiations was an even bigger mistake than the club’s decision not to splash the cash on Sima this summer, based on what he has achieved with PSV.
Malik Tillman's current market value
At the time of writing (02/10/2024), FootballTransfers places his current Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at a whopping €28.8m (£24m) and that is significantly more than the £12m the Dutch side paid for him, and the £5.8m Rangers could have signed him for if they had not inserted the cancellation clause.
Whereas, Sima only has an xTV of €4.6m (£3.8m) and has not been as impressive as Tillman at league level as an attacking threat since the start of the 2023/24 campaign.
The American playmaker has caught the eye with his brilliant performances in the Netherlands as both a scorer and a creator of goals from an attacking midfield position.
Appearances
35
30
Goals
13
11
Assists
11
3
Big chances created
17
3
As you can see in the table above, Tillman has scored two more goals and provided eight more assists than Sima since the start of last season.
That may be why the 22-year-old star’s market value is currently significantly higher than the Brighton loanee’s and shows why Rangers missing out on him was a bigger mistake.
Tillman, who journalist Jonny McFarlane claimed has “telescopic limbs”, has scored four goals in seven Eredivisie games this term, whilst
Sima is yet to score in five Ligue 1 outings.
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Rangers allowing there to be a clause for Bayern to cancel their loan option has turned out to be a huge blunder from the club, as the American dynamo could have been strutting his stuff and soaring in value at Ibrox instead of Eindhoven.