PREDICTING the winner of the cinch Premiership is a difficult business these days. There is, as all but one of their encounters last season highlighted, little if anything to separate Celtic and Rangers once again. The summer transfer window is also open for another month when the league gets underway.
Important players can be sold and marquee signings brought on board in the weeks after the Scottish top flight commences. The ins and outs at Parkhead and Ibrox in August often have a huge bearing on how the Glasgow rivals fare thereafter.
If, and it remains a big if, Rangers beat PSV Eindhoven in the second leg of the Champions League play-off in the Netherlands on Wednesday night and secure a place in the group stages for the first time since 2010 they will bank in the region of £40m.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will doubtless, with the funds available to him bolstered significantly, strengthen his squad further in an attempt to increase his side’s chances of competing in Europe’s premier club competition and lifting silverware domestically. He stated in an interview with Sky Sports yesterday that “crazy things” may happen.
His starting line-up in the opening Old Firm game of the 2022/23 campaign in the East End of Glasgow a fortnight today, then, could look very different to the one which took to the field against Livingston at Almondvale three weeks ago.
Yet, back at the end of July the majority of former players, media pundits, and fitba hacks, your correspondent included, tipped Celtic to retain their title in the 2022/23 campaign.
The options Ange Postecoglou had up front at that stage swayed many. The Greek-Australian had Liel Abada, James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Jota, Daizen Maeda, Matt O’Riley and David Turnbull. All of them had shown they had the ability to create and convert scoring opportunities in the final third.
Yes, Van Bronckhorst had Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Kemar Roofe, Fashion Sakala and Scott Wright as well as new acquisitions Antonio Colak, Rabbi Matondo, Tom Lawrence and Malik Tillman. But his summer signings still had to prove themselves. He also had just one fit striker at his disposal, Colak. It looked to many observers as if the defending champions had an edge in a vital area.
His new 6ft 2in forward had netted a well-taken second-half double for Malmo which killed off Rangers’ hopes of reaching the Champions League proper last year. But he was 27, had previously plied his trade in Poland, Greece, Sweden and his native Croatia, had often not been particularly prolific and cost just £1.8m.
There was not a great deal in his curriculum vitae to suggest he would play a significant role at home and abroad in the coming months. The new Cedric Itten?
His capture was welcomed by supporters of the Europa League finalists and Scottish Cup winners. But no excited crowds gathered on Edmiston Drive, as they had done when Aaron Ramsey arrived from Juventus on loan in January, to greet the new arrival.
That, though, was then. Bagging four goals in as many games, the latest of which came against PSV on Tuesday night, has made people sit up and take notice, earned him some rave reviews and quickly endeared him to Rangers fans.
The three-times capped internationalist has shown in his appearances so far in this country that he is an experienced, hard-working and intelligent professional who is comfortable with the intense demands on him to perform and more than capable leading the line by himself.
Crucially, he possesses that vital quality that all great strikers have - he is invariably in the right place at the right time.
Colak does not possess blinding pace, does not batter opposition defenders, does not have the trickery needed to weave past three players. No, all he does is score goals.
Van Bronckhorst was bemused when he was asked by BT Sports if he had not been tempted to put on Morelos, who returned from an extended injury lay-off earlier this month and was on the bench, in the closing stages of the PSV game in midweek. “No,” he said. “Colak had energy and was very dangerous. For me, that wasn't a point I had to change.”
The Colombian has been sidelined for nearly five months and needs matches to get up to full match fitness and sharpness. His game time will increase in the coming weeks. He should feature at some stage against Hibernian at Easter Road this afternoon.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Morelos - who has, understandably given the length of time he has been out for, looked a few pounds overweight and lacking in his usual spark in the appearances he has made – is back up to speed.
The presence of a serious contender for his berth – something which he has not always had during his five years here - should bring out the very best in Rangers’ all-time record European goalscorer on a consistent basis and that will make the Ibrox club a far greater threat in attack.
That will strengthen their bid to reclaim the Premiership crown from Celtic come May no end.
