Worse than Naderi: 4/10 Rangers star looks like their biggest January mistake

Glasgow Rangers kept themselves within a reasonable chance of winning the Scottish Premiership title with a 1-0 win over St Mirren on Sunday.

Only three points separate Rangers in third and Hearts in first place with eight matches to go, with all the top three having played the same number of games, teeing up an exciting end to the season.

Danny Rohl’s side claimed all three points in Paisley through a first Gers goal for left-back Tuur Rommens, who sneaked in at the back post to tap Nicolas Raskin’s cross into the back of the net.

Despite winning the game and still being in the title race, there were some negatives to take away from the win over St Mirren, as a few players failed to step up.

Ryan Naderi, for example, failed to get on the scoresheet for the sixth successive match since his £4.7m move from Hansa Rostock in the January transfer window.

Why Rangers made a mistake by signing Ryan Naderi

Hopefully, the German striker will go on to be a huge success at Ibrox and prove any doubters wrong, but the early signs from the 22-year-old are far from promising.

Rangers needed an injection of quality in the final third to bolster their chances of winning the Premiership title this season, yet took a risk on a forward from the German third tier for a fee of almost £5m.

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

It, therefore, currently looks like it was a mistake to sign the 6 foot 4 marksman in the winter window because he has not made the instant impact that was needed.

In the 1-0 win over St Mirren, the German attacker failed to score any of his four shots on goal and did not create any chances for his teammates, but he did win six of his nine aerial duels and compete in 19 duels in total, working hard for the team off the ball.

Despite his general struggles in a Rangers shirt, though, the club made an even bigger mistake than signing Naderi during the January transfer window.

The biggest mistake Rangers made in January

The Light Blues swooped to sign Rommens, Naderi, Tochi Chukwuani, and Andreas Skov Olsen in the winter window in an attempt to bolster their squad.

Rangers also had the opportunity to move on from a couple of players after bids came in from other clubs, but they opted against making a quick profit on Youssef Chermiti and Djeidi Gassama.

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

Looking back on it, not accepting a £10m bid from Monaco to make a profit on the £2.2m that they spent on the Frenchman last summer is looking like their biggest mistake of the January transfer window.

Gassama was even worse than the aforementioned Naderi in the win over St Mirren, as he ended the game with no shots on target and no chances created for the side, whilst the German at least tested the goalkeeper four times and provided an aerial presence.

His worst moment came early on in the first half when Raskin played the ball across to him to take an almost free shot at goal, and he sliced his attempt at an outside of the boot shot well wide of goal.

On top of his struggles in the final third, the former English Championship star was underwhelming in general play, completing just 12 passes in almost an hour on the pitch.

Speaking before the game, ex-Rangers forward Kris Boyd claimed that he would not be surprised to see the club cash in on Gassama in the summer because of his lack of consistency.

In the Premiership this season, the French attacker has only scored two goals and provided three assists in 30 appearances for the Gers, despite starting 23 of those matches.

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

Instead of banking £10m that could have been spent on players who were ready to come in and make an impact on the pitch immediately, Rangers opted to keep hold of a player who has failed to deliver on a consistent basis as a regular starter in the league.

Given his inconsistency and poor form in general in the Premiership, it is hard to look past rejecting Monaco’s bid as the biggest mistake of the window, and an even bigger mistake than signing Naderi, who was more effective than him on Sunday.

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