According to reports in the media on Wednesday afternoon (The 26th of August), Rangers are set to sign striker from MLS before the transfer window closes.
Despite a couple of recent victories for Rangers, first in the Scottish League Cup against defending Champions St.Mirren, and then against Czech side Jablonec in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League play-off final qualifying round, the consensus is that Rangers still need more bodies through the door before the end of the window.
Well, it looks as if that will be the case. Indeed so, as Rangers Review are reporting that the club have agreed a £9m deal with MLS outfit Portland Timbers for striker Kevin Kelsy.
The Venezuelan international has scored 10 goals in 23 games this season, in the equivalent of around 15.7 full 90’s worth of football, so a fairly decent scoring rate when applying context to it.
At just 22 years of age, there is clearly plenty of room for him to develop, and he is showing signs of doing exactly that - he has already scored one more goal than he did in the entirety of last season, in 577 minutes fewer action (remember, MLS use a calendar year schedule).
The striker is a very interesting profile of player. At 6’4, he is a physical striker, though just two of his ten goals this season have been headers, so he is very capable with his feet too, particularly his favoured left foot.
However, this ability could all be academic if Rangers don’t provide him with the requisite service, which has already shown to be an issue this campaign, as well as over the past few seasons. That said, the past two games have been a lot better on that front. Some said that with a clinical striker, the Jablonec tie would have already been put to bed, with the chances that were created last Thursday.
The Ibrox faithful are hoping that a creative player will follow Kelsy through the door this summer, otherwise a lot of the same issues will continue to persist, regardless of how good he may or may not be.
Even if a deal is done as soon as feasibly possible, there is no chance that he would be able to play in the second leg against Jablonec tomorrow evening, though in an ideal world, he could possible play a part in the trip to Aberdeen Sunday lunchtime.
Well, let's wait and see - but this certainly feels a lot more positive than it perhaps did just a few days ago.
