Glasgow Rangers will be without the services of Alfredo Morelos next season as Michael Beale confirmed that the striker is leaving the club after six years.
This leaves the club with only Antonio Colak, Fashion Sakala and Kemar Roofe as the centre-forward options at the club as it stands heading into next season.
The Englishman will surely be eying a few players in the summer transfer window, especially with Roofe’s injury issues and Sakala’s poor finishing skills.
The Zambian has netted just eight times across 37 appearances this season and although the player shows plenty of enthusiasm, his lack of cutting-edge is a major worry heading into 2023/24.
Beale must wish he could rewind the clock in order to utilise a player who was signed by Dick Advocaat in 1999 and has since entered cult hero status at the Ibrox side; Michael Mols.
What did Michael Mols achieve at Rangers?
Beale plays an attacking style of football which would have allowed the Dutchman to thrive, linking up well with two wingers and an attacking midfielder while he could also hold the ball up to great effect and bring others into play.
The £4m signing from the Eredivisie during Advocaat’s second season in charge of the Light Blues had the potential to transform their dominance in Scotland to the continent.
He enjoyed a wonderful start to life at the club, scoring four goals before a horrific injury suffered against Bayern Munich in the Champions League proved to be a career changer for the striker.
When he came back after a couple of seasons of stop-start progress in 2002/03, he was a different player. Mols couldn’t rely on his blistering pace anymore, therefore he turned into a more intelligent striker, someone that Beale could do with next season.
The Dutchman didn’t lose his finishing touch, scoring 13 league goals that term as Rangers eventually won the treble, while adding in another 11 during his final campaign for the club in 2003/04.
That initial tally happens to be better than Sakala’s seasonal record in Glasgow, with the club’s current striker having not scored more than 12 in a single campaign yet.
Mols’ ability to confuse defenders with his famous turn, giving him an extra yard of space to unleash a shot terrorised countless players during his time in Scotland and although the injury changed his nature, he didn’t lose the most important skill – finishing.
Prime Mols in this current Rangers side would be a massive danger, with Todd Cantwell on the right and Ryan Kent on the left threading him plenty of passes from which he could cause serious chaos from.
Advocaat struck gold signing the attacker, and his cult hero status in Glasgow was well-earned.
