Rangers are said to have kept an eye on former Chelsea youngster Ike Ugbo last summer and the Cardiff City striker is currently having an “extremely brilliant” debut in the national league.
With the likes of Josh Bowler and former Arsenal and Juventus playmaker Aaron Ramsey rocking up in South Wales over the summer, the signing of Ike Ugbo on a season-long loan from French side Troyes threatened to go somewhat under the radar.
With three goals and one assist from his first seven Championship starts, however, Ugbo is certainly doing his level best to ensure that is not the case. A player Mick Beale was reportedly ‘keen’ to reunite with at Rangers making quite the early impression south of the border (The Sun).
“Ike has really surprised me,” smiles Cardiff City coach Umut Bulut (Wales Online). “He is a player I didn’t really know. But, even in the games where he hasn’t scored, I think his hold-up play has been brilliant.
“All the new signings have contributed already, and they will only get better and better.”
All the praise coming Ugbo’s way certainly contrasts rather starkly to the reaction Cyriel Dessers has faced in his first few months as a Rangers player.
The £4.5 million signing from Spezia finally opened his Premiership account against Motherwell last weekend but that most fortuitous of strikes – Dessers deflecting Rabbi Matondo’s shot past ex-Rangers keeper Liam Kelly – was not enough to save the underperforming centre-forward from further criticism.
“I am not too sure Motherwell fans would have been delighted if they signed Cyriel Dessers, watching his performances up to this point,” Fir Park hero hero Stephen Craigan quipped on the BBC SportsSound podcast.
With fellow striker Danilo likely to be unavailable until after the October international break, however, Dessers should still have plenty more opportunities – both literally and metaphorically – to justify his sizeable price-tag.
Dessers is likely to lead the line again versus Aberdeen on Saturday.