Compared to Messi, snubbed by Rangers: Where is Gai Assulin now?

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The golden age of Barcelona’s La Masia academy appears to have gone, with the conveyor belt of talent seemingly slowing down in recent years.

For as much as the likes of Xavi, Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets have starred coming through the Barca ranks, there have been many cases of players falling by the wayside after big billings.

Jean-Marie Dongou is one example that springs to mind, as is Bojan Krkic; but Gai Assulin is one of the biggest cases of unfulfilled potential at the Camp Nou.

Assulin was touted as ‘the next Messi’ during his time at Barca, which never tends to end well. The Israeli attacker was quick, tricky and able to past a man in the final third, and he impressed for Barcelona B – but it all went wrong.

Aged just 19, Assulin turned his back on Barca for a move to Manchester City, and he has been a nomad ever since, turning out for the likes of Brighton, Racing Santander, Granada, Hercules, Mallorca, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Sabadell and Kairat.

Back in 2015, Assulin joined Rangers on trial in an attempt to get his career back on track, with Mark Warburton stating that he was ‘doing well’ with the Gers, but no deal materialised.

Given that Rangers were in the Scottish Championship at that time, Assulin could have been a real coup, but the fact that Rangers didn’t want him kind of summed up his situation.

Now 29, where is Assulin these days? Well, he’s currently turning out for Politehnica Iasi in Romania’s top flight, but he only played five times last season and just twice so far this term.

That’s not how many would have predicted Assulin’s career just over 10 years ago, but that’s where he is – and Rangers won’t particularly feel that they missed out when they let him walk away from Ibrox.