Glasgow Rangers brushed Kilmarnock aside with ease on Wednesday night with a brilliant 5-1 win at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership to move within three points of first place.
Andreas Skov Olsen scored his first goal for the club after his January move from Wolfsburg, whilst Tuur Rommens registered his first assist with a pass to Oliver Antman, who finally scored his first goal for the Gers.
There was also a debut for deadline day signing Ryan Naderi. The 22-year-old attacker came off the bench to play up front for the final 30 minutes of the game.
Skov Olsen set him up for an excellent chance to find the back of the net from just inside the box, but the former Hansa Rostock number nine sent his effort just wide of the post.
It was not a massive miss from the striker. In fact, he got a good connection on his shot, but it would have been a great moment for him on his debut at Ibrox if he had found the back of the net.
Why Rangers need Ryan Naderi
Some supporters, and people from the outside looking in, may question the logic of signing a striker from the third tier of German football in the middle of a title race.
In just 30 minutes on the pitch against Kilmarnock, though, Naderi showed one of the key reasons why the Gers need a player like him in their team.
|
Vs Kilmarnock |
Naderi |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
30 |
|
Shots |
3 |
|
Pass accuracy |
89% |
|
Possession lost |
2x |
|
Ground duels won |
3/4 |
|
Aerial duels won |
1/1 |
The 6 foot 3 marksman provided a focal point in the number nine position with physicality and reliability on and off the ball, winning four of his five duels and only losing possession twice in 30 minutes.
Bojan Miovski, who scored the second goal in the game, has lost 66% of his duels on the ground and in the air in the Premiership this season, which shows that defenders have found it far too easy to get the better of him. Naderi’s debut suggests that will not be the case with him.
The German striker’s return of eight goals in the 3. Liga during the first half of the season also suggests that the potential is there for him to offer more of a goal threat than Miovski and Youssef Chermiti, who have both scored four goals in the Premiership.
Whilst this explains why Naderi, who still has to make the step up as a goalscorer, could be exactly what Rangers need right now, the Gers may still rue losing a young striker who is an even bigger talent than Naderi.
The former Rangers striker who is a bigger talent than Naderi
The Light Blues have long since had an issue with generating first-team quality players from their youth set-up. Zero of the 16 players used by Danny Rohl on Wednesday night came through the academy system at Ibrox.
Nathan Patterson is perhaps the most successful recent academy graduate at Rangers, as he was sold for £11.5m to Everton. That made him one of the most expensive sales in the club’s history.
Some players slip through the cracks before they get a chance to really prove themselves in the first-team, though, and that was the case for centre-forward Robbie Ure.
The Glasgow-born number nine came up through the Rangers academy system and scored 23 goals in 47 matches for the B team and Youth League side combined, as well as one goal in three first-team matches under Giovanni van Brockhorst.
Unfortunately, Michael Beale, who replaced van Bronckhorst in 2022, was unable to convince Ure to stay at Ibrox beyond the end of his contract, which meant that he left on a free transfer to sign for Anderlecht in the summer of 2023, just shy of three years ago.
After 12 goals in 39 matches for the Belgian side’s academy team, Ure was snapped up by Swedish top-flight team Sirius to be their main number nine at the start of 2025.
|
2025 Allsvenskan |
Robbie Ure |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
30 |
|
Goals |
11 |
|
Conversion rate |
17% |
|
Key passes per game |
1.5 |
|
Big chances created |
6 |
|
Assists |
4 |
|
Duels won per game |
5.2 |
The 21-year-old striker, who is set to pick between Scotland and Ukraine to represent at international level, produced 15 goal contributions in 30 games in his first season of regular first-team football in the 2025 Allsvenskan with Sirius.
Ure is a year younger than Naderi and has delivered more goals and assists combined in a European top-flight than the German ever has in the third tier in his home country.
Naderi has never scored more than eight goals in a single league season in his academy or senior career to date, whilst Ure did it with Rangers at academy level and with Sirius in their first-team in 2025.
Therefore, the Light Blues must rue that they lost such a promising young talent, who may end up being capped by Ukraine at international level, for nothing, as he looks like an even bigger striker prospect than the player they just paid around £5m to sign from Germany.
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