One of the main reasons why Michael Beale is no longer the Rangers manager is that he signed two strikers who have struggled to make an impact whilst he watched others, like Petar Ratkov move elsewhere.
The towering Serb youngster enjoyed a breakthrough season last year and was destined to move on to bigger things with a possible switch to Ibrox mentioned on several occasions.
The 20-year old followed the path of Erling Haaland by signing for RB Salzburg as Rangers missed out for a reported fee said to be a paltry £4.2m, the former manager choosing instead to spend more on players that have already been written off by many.
Rangers summer target Petar Ratkov shows what we missed
Ratkov, as expected, has been in and out the Salburg side this season but has shown on international duty exactly what he is capable of.
Now a full Serbian international, competition for places in the senior squad is fierce with players like Aleksandr Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic to contend with.
He might not quite be ready to lead the line for his country just yet, however, it is clear that it is only a matter of time.
Rangers signed Cyriel Dessers hoping he would be the perfect Alfredo Morelos replacement when in reality, that player was Petar Ratkov.
Ratkov would have been perfect for Clement system
The difference is, Ratkov is quicker, a lot quicker.
At 6ft 4inches tall, the young striker can be used as a target man to hold the ball up and bring others into play but his speed also allows him to run in behind defences and chase long balls into the channels.
He is comfortable in possession and, as his goal perfectly demonstrated, he is more than happy to do the hard yards without the ball too.
Rangers need to get these decisions right more often which is why a sporting director is so important, would one have signed off on Dessers instead of Petar Ratkov or Nikola Krstovic?
The benefit of signing younger players is that if it doesn’t quite work out, you can still make your money back.
Who is going to pay over £4m for Cyriel Dessers at nearly 29-years old, unless he maintains his current goal scoring form that is?
