Glasgow Rangers supporters were able to see a number of their new signings in competitive action for the first time against Panathinaikos at Ibrox on Tuesday night.
Emmanuel Fernandez was an unused substitute and Thelo Aasgaard missed the match through injury, but Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell, Djeidi Gassama, and Nasser Djiga all made their debuts for the Scottish Premiership giants.
Russell Martin’s side secured a 2-0 win in front of their home supporters to take a strong lead over to Greece next week, and new signing Gassama introduced himself with a bang by scoring the second goal shortly after coming off the bench in the second half.
The former Sheffield Wednesday forward brilliantly cut inside from the left flank to rifle a shot into the back of the net from range, and fans will hope that that goal is the first of many.
Whilst the likes of Gassama and Findlay Curtis caught the eye with their goals, there were also some Rangers players who struggled against Panathinaikos.
Kieran Dowell was one of those strugglers under the lights at Ibrox on Tuesday night, and it remains to be seen if he has a future in Glasgow beyond this summer.
Why Rangers should sell Kieran Dowell
The Scottish Sun reported earlier this month that the English attacking midfielder is one of a number of players who the club are looking to cash in on before the end of the transfer window.
Dowell spent the second half of the 2024/25 campaign on loan with Birmingham City in League One in England, after it was deemed that he was not good enough for the Gers squad in January, but he is now back in Glasgow and has been utilised by Martin.
The Rangers head coach opted to select Dowell as a starter against Panathinaikos on Tuesday, but the left-footed dud’s performance did not reward Martin for his faith in the former Norwich man.
A theme of the midfielder’s career at Ibrox to date has been a lack of conviction in the final third to really influence matches with goals and assists, which was the case once again.
Minutes played
75
Shots on target
0
Big chances missed
1
Key passes
0
Big chances created
0
Duels won
5/7
As you can see in the table above, Dowell failed to create any chances for his teammates and did not work the keeper with any shots in 75 minutes of action on the pitch for the Light Blues.
The 27-year-old flop has only scored two goals and produced two assists in 33 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants to date, which shows that he rarely makes a difference in front of goal as an attacking midfielder or right winger.
Dowell has simply not done enough in a Rangers shirt to suggest that he should have a long-term future as a regular under Martin, and his performance on Tuesday did not change that.
This is why the club should be looking to move on from him this summer, and they could take a big step towards doing so by signing a replacement for him in the form of Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
Why Rangers should sign Jesurun Rak-Sakyi
Earlier this month, it was reported that Martin is pushing the club to secure a loan deal for Crystal Palace youngster Jesurun Rak-Sakyi this summer.
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The Gers boss wanted to sign the English winger during his time in charge of both Swansea and Southampton, but failed, and is hoping that this will be the third time lucky in a loan swoop for the forward, who is valued at £10m by the Premier League side.
Rangers could finally replace Dowell and ensure that they can afford to move on from him this summer by signing Rak-Sakyi to be the left-footed right winger in the team this season.
The English dud operated as a right-sided attacker against Panathinaikos, in the role that Vaclav Cerny played during his time on loan at Ibrox next season, and the Palace youngster would be an ideal signing to come in and play in that position.
He is a left-footed winger who likes to cut inside onto his favoured foot to make things happen at the top end of the pitch, as both a scorer and a creator of goals for his side.
The 22-year-old wing wizard racked up an eye-catching haul of 15 goals and nine assists for Charlton in the 2022/23 campaign, along with seven goals and two assists in all competitions for Sheffield United last term.
xG
0.32
Top 13%
Goals
0.36
Top 11%
xA
0.18
Top 22%
Assists
0.10
Bottom 46%
Chances created
1.51
Top 31%
Dribbles completed
2.44
Top 7%
Touches in the opposition box
7.69
Top 2%
As you can see in the table above, the Palace loanee shone in the final third in the Championship for the Blades, ranking highly among his positional peers in a host of key attacking metrics, as he scored goals and created chances at an impressive rate.
These statistics suggest that Rak-Sakyi, who was once dubbed “remarkable” by Roy Hodgson, has the potential and quality to come in and offer far more than Dowell has in the final third for the Gers, given that he scored more goals for Sheffield United last season than the English dud has managed in two seasons at Ibrox.
Put simply, Rangers need more goal contributions from the right wing position, given the lack of quality that Dowell offers in that role, and that is why they should be pushing to bring Rak-Sakyi in to replace him.
That would then free up the space in the squad, with the likes of Gassama and Aasgaard also coming in the door, to allow the club to move on from the former Norwich and Everton man without worrying about how it affects the depth of the squad for the 2025/26 campaign.
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