Fashion Sakala is the epitome of an enigma, which is a statement I’ve said before in a previous article. A player capable of moments of absolute brilliance, followed by moments of sheer buffoonery. I’ve never see a contrast quite like it from one minute to the next. That being said, the man in question managed nineteen goal contributions in 29 SPFL appearances. Those numbers averaged out at 151mins per goal and 95mins per goal contribution. Honestly, there are excellent numbers and that point should not be missed.
The issue fans have is the inconsistency with his finishing. He offers a lot going forward, particularly with his pace and he’s very unpredictable when running at defenders. The end product isn’t always there though. Some could argue that given the number he’s already providing, if he got any more consistent, he wouldn’t be at Ibrox and they would be correct.
There’s a reason Fashion Sakala is plying his trade in the SPFL and that’s because he doesn’t get it right all the time but you can never fault him for his efforts.
Transfer Rumours
Between last summer and January Burnley were rumoured to be interested in the 26-year-old Zambian international. It was claimed that Vincent Kompany was keen to add pace to his front line having come up against him in Belgium. No bids have been made and no concrete reports of this interest have surfaced recently though.
On Saturday there were reports circulating that German Bundesliga.2 side St. Pauli were interested. This link sparked huge debate on social media due to the clubs affiliation with Rangers closest rivals. As much as a section of the fans would be happy to sell Sakala, I don’t think they’d be best pleased seeing him go there.
However, Sports director Andreas Bornemann shut down these claims yesterday as he said;
Speculation is part of the game. There is a lot going on in the football rumour mill these days.
It’s amazing what’s supposedly going on! In fact, we’ve had a few wild topics recently. For example, just because we had previously looked to the UK for Jackson Irvine and Oladapo Afolayan, people now suspect links there more often. It’s true that during this period, agents increasingly contact us and offer us players, but we prefer to search ourselves.
Andreas Bornemann to German media
Maybe the move to Germany isn’t on after all then, or is the sports director just trying to keep the move under wraps? Either way, I’d expect that there would be teams out there willing to take the punt on Fashion Sakala. His numbers help him gain attention and he scored some excellent goals this season.
There will be many teams out there that would want a forward that possesses his electric pace and can also provide goals and assists.
What’s Next?
When speaking to the clubs official website regarding the signing of Sam Lammers, Michael Beale said;
The coming weeks will see more trading both in and out of the squad as we prepare for the season ahead. We have key areas of focus and we are close to securing our targets in those positions.
Michael Beale via the clubs official website
It will be very interesting to see who goes and if Sakala is in that list. The issue with selling him is that the club would probably get £3-4m max right now, how easy is it to bring in someone that will give you almost twenty goal contributions for that type of money? The answer is simple, it’s not easy.
No matter who Rangers would replace him with, there’s no guarantees they could provide those numbers in their first season. How do you feel about Fashion Sakala? Would you sell him this summer or do you think he should stay at the club as a solid rotation option from the bench?