Rangers earned more points in 23/24 than Matondo, a “experienced” £2.5 million flop, in our perspective.

Glasgow Rangers head into this weekend’s Old Firm clash with a chance to gain a psychological boost in the Premiership title chase.

The Gers are currently second in the league table, a point behind Celtic, although they have a game in hand against Dundee next week.

It has been a remarkable turnaround by the club since Philippe Clement took over in October, as prior to that, Michael Beale was on the verge of a crisis.

Three defeats in the opening seven Premiership matches threatened to derail a title challenge before Halloween, yet the Belgian has saved the day and has the Light Blues on the cusp of a stunning treble.

Beale did do some decent business in the transfer window. He signed Jack Butland, who has been in wonderful form throughout the season, registering 23 clean sheets across 48 matches, while Abdallah Sima and Dujon Sterling have also been impressive.

The Englishman also managed to secure a transfer fee of nearly £5m for Glen Kamara, who joined Leeds United, while striker Antonio Colak also departed the Gers after just one season in Glasgow.

Kamara has since shone for Leeds in the Championship this term, yet Colak has failed to replicate his form in front of goal that he displayed at Rangers during 2022/23, struggling for Parma this term.

How much Rangers sold Antonio Colak for

Despite being one of the Gers most consistent goal threats under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Colak found himself out of the team on a regular basis when Beale took over.

An injury suffered prior to the enforced hiatus due to the World Cup ruled the striker out for five games, and he struggled to assert himself in the starting XI upon his return.

Although the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent left the club following the expiration of their contracts at the end of last season, Colak clearly found himself frozen out of Beale’s future plans.

Serie B side Parma came in for the Croatian striker during the summer transfer window and a bid of £2.5m was accepted by the Light Blues, as Beale needed some funds in order to complete a few transfer deals of his own before the start of the season.

Considering they had only paid £1.8m to secure his services a year prior, it was a solid piece of transfer business by the club, ensuring they made a profit on the player.

Antonio Colak’s statistics for Rangers

Colak had clearly made an impression on the Rangers’ hierarchy as early as 2021, scoring twice against the Gers in a Champions League qualifier when playing for Malmö, which sent the Ibrox side packing.

Although not the nimblest of centre-forwards, Colak certainly knew where the goal was and enjoyed a decent start to life in Glasgow after being dubbed “experienced” by the Dutchman.

Not only did he score three goals in the Champions League qualifiers – including the winner against PSV Eindhoven – he also found his feet in the Premiership fairly quickly.

In his opening 14 league matches for the club, Colak scored 11 times while chipping in with two assists, proving to be a player Van Bronckhorst could rely on domestically.

In the Champions League, however, Colak struggled against the likes of Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax, scoring zero goals while completing just 4.5 passes per game, winning 26% of his total duels per game along with taking just 0.2 shots on target each match, indicating that performing against the elite proved to be a step too far.

Overall, the 30-year-old found the back of the net on 18 occasions during his sole season in Scotland – ranking him as their joint top scorer alongside James Tavernier – which, on the surface, sounds like a fairly respectable campaign.

With opportunities looking slim under Beale, he moved to Italy, yet has failed to hit the ground running for Parma.

Antonio Colak’s season in numbers for Parma

Although Colak scored three goals during his first eight Serie B games for the club, he has been goalless since the start of October, starting just twice since, as it looks like he has fallen down the pecking order.

Not only has he missed two big chances in the Italian second tier, but the former Malmö frontman has averaged just 11 touches, 4.3 passes, won 1.2 total duels and managed only 0.4 shots on target per game across his 18 appearances for Parma.

Hardly the form that was anticipated for a £2.5m signing, and it is clear the Gers have struck gold by selling him for this amount last year.

Even Rabbi Matondo, who was expected to also depart Ibrox in 2023, has scored more than Colak this season, taking full advantage of the chances he has been given in the starting XI, finally showcasing his full potential.

Rabbi Matondo’s stats in 2023/24

While Colak shone for the Gers in his maiden season, Matondo struggled, failing to score in 28 matches in all competitions.

The Welsh winger enjoyed a solid pre-season as he looked to fight for his place in the side before his Ibrox career finally took off following a wonderful goal against PSV.

Since then, he has added another four goals while registering the same number of assists, despite missing 17 games through injury this term.

His impact, especially from the bench, has been solid during the 2023/24 season, and he certainly has a decent future at the club under Clement, which looked ominous during pre-season.

He may not be a regular starter for the Gers, but Matondo has proved that fighting for his place instead of leaving at the first sign of trouble can allow him to develop and showcase his talents.

Not many would have predicted the former Manchester City starlet would have scored more goals than Colak this season, indicating that the club hit the jackpot by selling the Croatian striker in 2023.

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