Rangers latest rumour came completely out of the blue yesterday. Reports from Morocco claimed that the club had agreed a fee of around €2m for twenty-one year old striker Hamza Igamane.
The biggest Twitter page to report the news was Soccer212 who have 123.5k followers;
They tweeted ‘Hamza Igamane will join Glasgow Rangers! VM in progress
What do you think ?’
Presumably ‘VM’ refers to a medical, it looks like this one could be done in the coming days.
Background
Hamza Igamane came through the youth system at current club FAR Rabat. The club, interestingly, also look set to lose star player Amine Zouhzouh to Lyon.
They are one of the biggest clubs in Morocco and Africa as a whole and sit one point behind unbeaten Raja Casablanca in the Botola Pro D1.
Igamane has made a total of fifty-eight first team appearances, scoring sixteen goals. Last season he scored six goals in eighteen domestic games. He also scored three in eleven CAF Confederations Cup appearances.
Up until now, he hasn’t been called up to the full Morocco squad but has six U23 caps and has scored twice.
Igamane is thought to be heading to the Olympic Games with Morocco this summer also.
Hamza Igamane This Season
I know the first thing people will look at is the 12% conversion rate. Especially with how Dessers was criticised last season and he ended up with 16% conversion rate.
However it’s difficult to judge the quality of chances and the volume of chances he misses with the little data available.
What we can take from this is that he contributes to a goal every other game, which is impressive at twenty-one.
His dribbling numbers are also excellent at 64% success per game. That is just under two success dribbles per game at 1.9.
The graphic also shows that SofaScore has his strengths listed as anchor play and ball control. For a club that play with one striker, those are attributes you absolutely need to be a success in the role.
Player Profile
Many fans have watched the compilations and I’ve watched every minute of him I could find. There’s a lot of Alfredo Morelos comparisons, some just because he’s worn number twenty and likes to knee slide..
Aside from that, he does look very strong and capable of bullying centre backs. The comparison gets stronger the more footage that you watch. Hamza Igamane genuinely seems like he could be a nightmare for defences.
As far as other attributes go, I’ve mentioned his ball control and dribbling ability but he also has a good burst of pace. This gives him the ability to mix up his striking approach.
Having a striker that’s capable of taking the ball in and holding it up but also able to run in behind the last man is crucial in one striker formations.
Another big thing which can be taken from his footage is that he likes to get shots away early. Fans bemoaned the amount of extra touches Dessers took last season before getting a shot away. This doesn’t seem like it will be an issue for Igamane.
Adding to that he’s comfortable with both feet and has a great leap, exactly what Rangers need up top.
Conclusion
This is a deal that can go many ways. A reported £1.7m for a twenty-one year old who’s never played outside of Morocco could be a risk.
It’s also the type of deal the club should be pursuing to kick start the player trading model. Personally, I think it’s encouraging that we’re scouting as far and wide as Africa, North/South America etc.
It shows a real change in the recruitment approach and a desire to acquire genuine assets for the future. If the club is to be self-sustaining then the player trading model needs to start NOW.
So far it’s been one big sale here and there I.E. Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey. It needs to be a sustainable thing that happens every summer. Look at the likes of Club Brugge and Standard Liege.
They scout far and wide and make massive sales every summer, that’s what Rangers need to start doing and it looks like that’s what Nils Koppen’s plan is.
What do you think of the potential signing of Hamza Igamane? Are you encouraged by the scope of scouting this window?
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