Lassana Coulibaly fell out of favour in the Scottish Premiership at Rangers – does he have a future in Ligue 1 with Angers?
When Lassana Coulibaly announced himself to Rangers fans with a series of imperious performances and the odd crunching tackle, few would have expected that his Ibrox career would unravel so quickly.
Coulibaly was one of the first players on Steven Gerrard’s team-sheet in his first few months after arriving on loan from Angers. And, speaking to the Scottish Sun in December, he was unequivocal about his desire to sign a permanent deal with the Glasgow giants. “Of course” he wanted to stay.
By the end of the season, however, that dream was dead. Injuries didn’t help, nor did the January arrivals of Steven Davis and in particular Glen Kamara, with the Mali international starting just one Scottish Premiership game in the second half of the season.
He went from the best thing since sliced bread to the forgotten man in the blinking of an eye.
But what does the future hold for Coulibaly now, after Rangers decided against keeping him around? The 24-year-old hasn’t featured in either of Angers’ two games in the first few weeks of 2019/20 after returning to France following the African Cup of Nations but fatigue might not be the only reason why he hasn’t been seen in Ligue 1 action.
According to Ouest France, Coulibaly is set to be farmed out again, this time to Belgian outfit Cercle Brugge on a two year deal. The Green and Blacks are bottom of the Jupiler League table, losing all four of their games so far.
Stuck in the relegation zone in Belgium, this isn’t what Coulibaly had in mind when he admitted that staying at Rangers would be a dream come true.
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