In an ideal world, Abdallah Sima would’ve kicked off pre-season training with the rest of the Rangers squad.
The Senegalese attacker, 23, even shared an Instagram update as if he was pining for the grass at Auchenhowie as the club’s team got back to work this week.
But such is the way of things in football, the Brighton loanee has had to contend with the reality that he is technically not a Rangers player.
Abdallah Sima might want a return to Rangers, heck, Rangers might even want to sign him, but you and I both know it’s never as easy as that.
Now, a potentially key domino could be about to fall in Rangers’ transfer hunt for the attacker as Brighton launch a £33m Premier League bid.
Brighton launch £33m winger bid
According to the likes of the Daily Mail, Brighton have had a quite astonishing £33m offer for Newcastle United winger Yankuba Minteh accepted.
The 19-year-old spent last season on loan at Feyenoord and the Magpies could avoid the sale of Alexander Isak or Anthony Gordon if the transfer goes through.
FFP rules south of the border have Premier League teams sweating and this would be a huge relief for Eddie Howe who might have lost the aforementioned duo to Chelsea or Liverpool respectively.
But as teams south of the border scramble to make sales, Rangers fans will note Brighton’s expensive outlay in a player who plays in Abdallah Sima’s position.
The transfer would bolster the Seagulls’ squad but we doubt Gambian attacker Yankuba Minteh – who also had interest from the likes of Lyon and Everton – would move to the AMEX without the promise of Premier League playing time.
Sima’s Rangers story still to be written
Abdallah Sima meanwhile is yet to play a top team game for Brighton.
The attacker joined the south coast club in 2021 in a reported £6m deal from Slavia Prague before being immediately farmed out on loan to Stoke City.
Spending the following season out on loan at Angers in Ligue 1, it wasn’t until Sima moved to Ibrox that he found a home in British football.
Netting 15 goals in the first half of last season, Sima suffered a devastating injury at AFCON which obliterated the second half of his season.
The striker has always been clear that he has unfinished business at Ibrox and there are murmurs that Brighton have lowered their £8m asking price for the forward.
Nonetheless, it’s expected that new Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler will want to run the rule over Sima before the season begins.
Whilst Brighton’s move for Yankuba Minteh can only be a positive from a Rangers POV, this transfer saga still has a few chapters to be written just yet.
