Fashion Sakala shatters Saudi record as ex Rangers star hits red-hot goal streak

Fashion Sakala begrudgingly left Rangers for Saudi Arabia last summer after being forced out the door by Michael Beale.

And the Zambian international has shown the Ibrox club exactly what they’re missing after an explosive debut season with Al-Fayha. The former Gers fans’ favourite was shipped out for £3million as part of Beale’s summer rebuild but later revealed that he felt disrespected by the Londoner – who was axed for Philippe Clement in October – after being banished from first-team training.

But the 27-year-old has bounced back from his brutal Ibrox divorce by making history with in the Middle East, becoming the first player ever to score 14 goals for Al-Fayha in a single Saudi Pro League season.

Sakala has struck up a formidable all-African strike partnership with Nigerian Henry Onyekuru to help fire Al-Fayha to 11th place in the league – just five points behind former Gers boss Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq. The prolific pair have plundered 24 of Al-Fayha’s 37 league goals so far this campaign, with red-hot Sakala topping the scoring charts with 17 across all competitions.

Overall, the lightning-quick attacker has chipped in with a hugely impressive 25 goal contributions in 37 appearances, with eight assists to his name. His eye-catching numbers are in stark contrast to the likes of Sam Lammers and Fabio Silva, who have struggled to fill the void left by the ex-KV Oostende star.

In a bombshell interview with the Rangers Review back in December, Sakala opened up on his emotional Rangers exit and how he knew the writing was on the wall for him. He said: “I went back to pre-season in Germany and it was a big surprise because my pictures were not taken. I was scoring beautiful goals and my goals were not published. I could see my friends celebrating goals.

“When we had a team meeting, my answers were not allowed to be published. People started asking if I was there in pre-season. I was there from the beginning to the end. It was a hard one to take for me. Even if there was a club that wanted to buy me, I could have at least been respected a little bit and leave the club in a good way. Rangers was a club that I felt was like my home and receiving that treatment was so hard for me.”

On his deteriorating relationship with Beale, Sakala added: “He clearly showed me that I wasn’t part of his plans without telling me anything. The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore. That was hard to take for me because I didn’t do anything. Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team.

“I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks. I think I deserved much better, I deserved to be respected at least. I understand you want to sell me to get money to buy new players, that is fine.

“But let me just be part of the team, let me say goodbye nicely to my team-mates. When I received a call that I shouldn’t go to the training ground anymore, I didn’t see any of my team-mates anymore. It was hard to say goodbye in such a bad way to people who looked after me so well – Tavernier, Goldson – I had to talk to them on phones when it was time to leave.

“It was hard for them to believe that I wasn’t allowed to go to the training ground anymore. It was sad the way I said goodbye to Rangers, it is very sad.”