4 goals in 27 as Rangers’ Youssef Chermiti proves he’s not the answer | OneFootball

One thing that has become abundantly clear is that for 10 minutes, Youssef Chermiti became Lionel Messi at Parkhead. The reality since then is that the Portuguese forward might be able to hold the ball up a little, but he will never score goals for Rangers. The club desperately needs a decent new striker, and sadly, the only option, a third choice, third division German league player in the form of Ryan Naderi, will not be arriving until summer, if that one even goes through.

Chermiti is not what Rangers paid for

The fact is that Chermiti remains an astonishing and expensive waste of money. He was bought to score goals. He was not bought to be a number 10 or a holding midfielder. The fact is that the boy has no confidence to score goals. He went through a little burst briefly. This was especially during that aberration in Glasgow’s East End. He suddenly looked like he could be the answer. It felt like he might just have taken a while to settle in.

Fans soften but we will not

But the reality is he just will not score goals. He really is just a staggering waste of a lot of money. A lot of fans have softened their stance on him. Ibrox Noise is not one of those. We still consider him to be an astonishing waste of a lot of cash. The fact that he can hold the ball up deeper and higher in midfield does not help his case as a striker. That is not why we signed him.

£10M for goals not hold up play

We did not spend £10M to have someone hold the ball up. We spent £10M to have lots of goals. His CV was pretty blatantly not the kind of player who was ever going to do that in the first place. Kevin Thelwell’s smuggery at Parkhead was pretty short lived. Chermiti is back to being a complete hopeless case. As we say, reasonably competent at holding the ball up, but that is not his purpose.

36 hours and the title slipping away

At the end of the day, Rangers have barely a day and a half to sign any half decent striker who can actually score. By all accounts, that is not something the club is going to be able to do. We simply cannot attract the calibre of striker that we need. We have the money. That is the sad part. Rangers have the cash and have bid for the German Naderi. But because Rangers refused to pay what Hansa Rostock believe his value is, it will be a pre contract instead. He will arrive in the summer. That is not good enough for Rangers. Not when you have a title that you are trying to chase.

Further analysis

We will have more analysis on yesterday’s match in due course. Youssef Chermiti became Lionel Messi but only temporarily. But the reality is that unless Rangers pull off a miracle and get a decent striker in over the next 7 hours, 56 could be a long, long way away.