Rangers fans would regularly chuckle at Umar Sadiq during his time at Ibrox, but the striker may end up having the last laugh.
The Gers pounced to sign Sadiq on loan from Roma in the summer of 2018.
Having once been touted as a potential future star, Sadiq offered something of a wildcard option in the Rangers attack alongside Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.
Sadiq barely played under Steven Gerrard though, and left Rangers just a matter of months into his loan spell with no goals and four appearances to his name.
If you had asked any Rangers fan in 2019 whether they thought Sadiq would become a star, they would have probably laughed.
Yet a move to Serbia with Partizan Belgrade has changed Sadiq’s career. He bagged 23 goals in 52 games over there, earning a 2020 move to Almeria.
After 22 goals last term, Sadiq continues to score in Spain with seven goals in 15 games this season. Sadiq even has six assists too.
Now 24, Sadiq appears to have found his feet, thriving after Gerrard axed him at Rangers.
Almeria president and CEO Mohamed El Assy has now been speaking about former Rangers flop Sadiq.
El Assy has told Marca that he has followed Sadiq’s career for a long time, and believes that he could end up being the most expensive sale in the history of Spain’s second tier – a far cry from the Rangers scrapheap.
“I think he’s in the prime of his career both personally and professionally,” said El Assy. “I have followed him since he played with Nigeria at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Since then, I did not stop following his evolution until we signed him. In the future, it is very possible that it will become the most expensive sale in the history of Segunda,” he added.
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