Rangers give Abdallah Sima a chance to kick start Brighton career
Abdallah Sima will be hoping it is third time lucky in terms of a successful loan move which can kick start his Brighton career after joining Rangers for the season.
Switches to Stoke City in 2021-22 and French side SCO Angers in 2022-23 were interrupted by injury, meaning the Senegal striker has never been able to show the form which convinced the Albion to pay a cool £7 million for his services to Slavia Prague two summers ago.
Sima arrived on transfer deadline day at a time when Brighton appeared desperate for forward reinforcements. To widespread disbelief, he was instantly sent to the Bet365 Stadium.
Actually, widespread disbelief is probably the wrong term. Pure and simple anger is more like it. One Albion fan said they would chop their arm off live on Periscope if Brighton bought Abdallah Sima and then loaned him out instantly.
The Together BHA podcast tweeted they would lose their fucking minds if Brighton did not not sign another striker before the 11pm deadline. Minds (and almost body parts) were subsequently lost when the move to the Potters was confirmed.
Sima though appeared to have the rawest deal of all. Here was a young man swapping Prague, the Charles Bridge and beautiful pints of Staropramen for Stoke, junction 15 of the M6 and warm, flat Carling.
Given those circumstances, Sima could be excused a year of struggle in the Potteries. Having scored 16 goals in 33 matches to help Slavia to the Czech title and the quarter finals of the Europa League in the 2020-21 season, he managed just 73 minutes of Championship football for Stoke.
All that game time came at the start of his loan spell. The middle of September brought an ankle injury which ruled him out for four weeks. Next came a back injury and November spent on the side lines. From December until March, a groin problem kept Sima out.
Between those bouts of injury, Sima scored four times in five matches for Stoke’s Under 21s in Premier League 2. That sort of record is better than Evan Ferguson at development squad level (a good sign) and nearly on a par with Aaron Connolly (which is why you should always take PL2 performances with a pinch of salt).
Sima was at least spared another loan to a bleak city in 2022-23, instead moving to lovely Angers in western France. He did not start any of the opening six games of the Ligue 1 campaign but began to feature more as his fitness improved.
Unfortunately for Angers, it was a season to forget. They finished rock bottom of the French top flight, collecting just 18 points to end the campaign 18 points adrift of safety.
Sima proved to be one of the few bright lights, scoring six goals and claiming two assists from 37 appearances in all competitions.
All those contributions came from January onwards; Sima’s first four months in France were needed to get himself up and running again after essentially an entire season on the shelf. Once he had shaken the rustiness, Angers got to see increasingly what he is about.
Sima spent most of his year with Angers playing as a central striker. His breakthrough campaign at Slavia was spent playing on the right.
What his numbers in the Czech Republic suggest is that Sima can thrive in a good side playing attacking football.
Being on one of the horses in a two-horse race for the Scottish title has the potential to bring out the best in Abdallah Sima, whether Rangers manager Mick Beale uses him through the middle or out wide.
He will also get to experience European football at Ibrox. Rangers will enter the Champions League at the third qualifying stage, meaning they have two sets of two-legged ties to navigate to make it to the groups.
Should they fail to qualify, then they will will drop into the Europa League. One would like to think the Albion have had the foresight to include a clause in his loan with Rangers stating Abdallah Sima cannot play against Brighton should the clubs be paired together in the competition.
Otherwise, we can all see what it is going to happen. Abdallah Sima, 90+4 minutes, Brighton 0-1 Rangers and another entry for The List.
Sima does have previous in the Europa League. Four of his goals for Slavia came in the competition, including one when the Stitched (quality nickname) eliminated Leicester City in the intermediate stage. Slavia then knocked out Rangers in the round of 16 before falling to Arsenal in the last eight.
According to The Argus, the Albion have not included any agreement in the loan allowing either party to turn Sima’s loan move to Rangers into a permanent deal.
This represents a different approach to that taken with Andi Zeqiri when the Swiss forward joined Basel last summer. Both Zeqiri and Sima were 22 bordering 23 and entering the final two years of their Brighton contracts, so in almost identical situations.
Whereas the Albion were happy to facilitate a permanent move to Switzerland for Zeqiri – one that has not materialised only because Basel could not afford the stipulated fee – Brighton are seemingly more keen to keep Sima.
This would suggest the club hope an injury-free season with plenty of goals for Rangers can push Sima into first team contention at the Amex in 2024-25.
His versatility makes him look like a good fit for the Albion. He would also bring height; Brighton are not exactly blessed with tall players and Sima stands a good 6’2, although around a foot of that appears to be made up by an extraordinarily long neck.
With the media attention Rangers attract, it should be a lot easier for Brighton fans to keep track on Sima over what looks like a make-or-break year for his Albion future. All eyes on Ibrox.
