Rangers, Ibrox, SPFL, Amad Diallo
Rangers’ January signing Amad Diallo may not be ‘up to it’ at Ibrox, Frank McAvennie has told Football Insider.
The lowdown
With three days of the January transfer window remaining, Rangers signed Diallo on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst inherited the squad of his predecessor Steven Gerrard in the autumn, but this was one of four incoming deals he sanctioned in January as he looked to put his own stamp on the squad.
Diallo made a flying start for the Gers, scoring just five minutes into his debut against Ross County on 29 January.
But Van Bronckhorst then substituted him at half time against Celtic, with Rangers 3-0 down, after he lost five of the six duels he contested and conceded possession 12 times.
He’s only played 22 Scottish Premiership minutes since, and has watched all the Europa League knockout action from the sidelines.
The latest
McAvennie stressed that Diallo has the ability but says he may have encountered something of a culture shock.
And he feels it’s fair to question the wisdom of the signing in light of what we’ve seen so far.
“It’s a different game up here,” he said. “In England, players will take the ball. In Scotland, you take the ball and the man.
“It’s frantic, you get no time on the ball. Diallo doesn’t have the time to run with the ball, it can be a shock to a player.
“He’s only a young boy and he has bags of talent but maybe Van Bronckhorst doesn’t trust him.
“There are loads of options for Rangers in that position so if you aren’t up to the job, you won’t play.
“It just makes me wonder why they signed him if he’s not up to it.”
Can Diallo still play a role in the run-in?
Yes
No
The verdict
This was a signing that felt like it could go either way.
Diallo had showcased his immense potential at youth level, notching 28 direct goal contributions in 46 appearances for Atalanta’s Primavera side.
But, on the other hand, he’d only made 14 senior appearances for La Dea and Manchester United combined.
Rangers haven’t committed to an expensive mandatory purchase option, so from that point of view it was still perhaps a risk worth taking, but it hasn’t paid off so far.
As McAvennie says, Van Bronckhorst simply seems to have very little trust in him.
After all, BBC Sportsound pundit Derek Ferguson has accused him of looking ‘half-hearted’, while journalist Andrew Dickson described his attitude as ‘really poor’ after he allegedly backed out of a challenge against Dundee United.
If the commitment isn’t there, then he can’t expect to play in important games.
In other news, this BBC man drops a transfer claim on Cedric Itten.
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