Fashion Sakala’s post Rangers record as striker hits form in Saudi Pro League

He was a player that divided opinion during his time at Rangers and it’s understandable why given his mixed form during his two seasons in Glasgow.

He could score some big and important goals but he’ll probably be best remembered for a couple of sitters against Celtic in Hampden games last season. He missed an open goal in both the Viaplay Cup Final and the Scottish Cup semi-final defeats in Old Firm games and it’s hard to come back from that as a Rangers player. There were plenty who were annoyed when the Ibrox club agreed to sell him to Saudi Pro League club Al-Fayha.

It was made worse when Rangers struggled to find creativity and attacking threat under Michael Beale before the Englishman was sacked and there’s a feeling that Sakala would have been a regular in the team given the likes of Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers have failed to hit the height so far, although both did impress on Saturday against Hibs.

But Sakala has been impressing for his new club in the Saudi Pro League and they’re doing okay in the league, currently sitting eighth and just one place behind Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq.

There’s not many big names in the Al-Fayha team with Sakala and Nigeria international Henry Onyekuru the two standouts compared to the other teams who have the likes of Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema throughout the league.

And in 10 games so far, Sakala has scored five goals and got one assist to give him a better than one in two record for goal contributions since making the move to Saudi Arabia.

He’s continued his good form with a goal against Al-Okhdood on Monday and he also found the net in a 4-0 win over Uganda for Zambia last week during the international break.

Record since leaving Rangers

Played: 10

Scored: 5

Assists: 1