£4m gamble on Jelavic pays off in style

WHEN a supposedly skint Rangers lavished £4 million on Nikica Jelavic in the summer of 2010, the Croatian became the most expensive Scottish football import in a decade.

The purchase of the Rapid Vienna predator has proved to the best possible way to spend money it seems you don’t have. The 26-year-old’s goals in the away wins at Aberdeen and Hearts in the last week have taken his tally for the season to nine goals in 15 appearances and 27 in Ibrox colours in all, despite him missing three months with a knee injury last season.

Rangers’ all-in approach with their transfer budget last year has brought such handsome returns that Ally McCoist – assistant to Walter Smith at the time of the player’s arrival – seems to feel a little sheepish at being praised for the wisdom of a high-risk strategy. “Like any transfer, it was a gamble,” McCoist says of Jelavic. “Looking at how he’s played, you can say it’s maybe not as much of a gamble as I’m making it out to be. We had a degree of confidence that he would develop into a really good player and do well here.

“I watched him a couple of times and thought he was a good player but more than anything I felt he could handle the physical side of it.”

Jelavic’s sublime volley to end Hearts’ resistance last weekend showed the abilities that the Scottish game witnesses all too infrequently these days. “That was a real bit of class, but he’s done that in the period he’s been here,” McCoist says. “The thing about Jelavic is that he scores all sorts of goals: headers, wonder goals, or knocking them over the line from a couple of yards.” And the thing about Jelavic is that he keeps scoring from all possible openings.