A year after £3m Rangers links, 17-goal forward is running away with Golden Boot

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Scottish Premiership giants Rangers wanted a target man in January, so could Osijek’s Mirko Maric be a target for Steven Gerrard’s side again soon?

For all those who questioned the logic behind Rangers’ reported £3 million move for Mirko Maric last summer, it’s worth remembering that ‘Alfredo Morelos’ was hardly a regular topic of discussion on Glasgow streets before the summer of 2019.

Maric, who was linked by the Record, felt like another example of a Scottish Premiership giant thinking outside the box in the transfer market. It’s an approach that, at least in the Steven Gerrard era, has served them well so far.

And, while a move for a third Osijek player in the space of 12 months failed to materialise, with the Croatian target man staying in Croatia rather than following in the footsteps of Eros Grezda and Borna Barisic, don’t be surprised if Maric is occupying plenty of gossip column inches once again this summer.

After all, everyone knows that Gerrard wanted a target man in January, settling on Florian Kamberi after links with Livingston’s Lyndon Dykes. The former Easter Road favourite has no loan-to-buy clause in his contract, however, and his spell at Ibrox already looks set to be a short one (Record).

Meanwhile, over in Croatia, Maric is enjoying the best spell of his footballing life. Osijek might be 18 points adrift of runaway Croatian league leaders Dinamo Zagreb but their 24-year-old talisman could still end the season with something shiny on his mantelpiece.

With 15 goals in 21 games, Maric is running away with the Golden Boot right now, sitting four strikes ahead of Zagreb’s £8.5 million-rated Champions League hero Mislav Orsic.

Maric has found the net 17 times overall, putting him well on track to shatter last season’s career best tally of 20.

And if Kamberi feels like something of a short-term quick fix for a Rangers side who were scouring the market last month for a physical number nine, Maric looks like a future star who is only just getting started in the present.