Abdallah Sima discusses recent Rangers form and potential Brighton transfer - 'let’s see what is going to happen in a few months'

Goalkeeper Jack Butland has often been labelled as Rangers’ only successful summer signing but that is simply not true now, as forward Abdallah Sima also belongs in that category.

The Ibrox club signed four forwards in the previous transfer window and the arrival of Sima on loan from Brighton faded into the background due to approximately £10million being spent on fellow strikers Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers and Danilo. Yet it is the softly-spoken Senegalese who is really catching the eye. He scored a double in Rangers’ 4-0 home win over Hibs to give new manager Philippe Clement the perfect start at Ibrox and the 22-year-old can boast impressive stats of seven goals in his past seven club matches.

Blessed with searing pace, the rangy Sima was stationed wide left and his speed and directness was far too much for Hibs to handle. He opened the scoring with a precise, drilled finish across goalkeeper David Marshall and his second goal of the match, to make it 3-0, was an emphatic close-range finish after good work from Dessers.

“I’m very pleased with that,” Sima said when his recent form was put to him. “It’s always special to score goals, so seven goals in seven games is really special for me, but I have to keep going. I think as a striker, it is very important for me to score goals and if I am scoring in almost every game it is helpful for my confidence and I feel it is getting higher all the time and I am hoping to score goals in every game.”

Rangers' Abdallah Sima celebrates as he scores to make it 3-0 against Hibs at Ibrox.

So impressive are Sima’s recent returns, some Rangers fans already want his move from Brighton to be made permanent. “I don’t know,” Sima said on his future. “I’m just happy to be here and to score goals and enjoy every minute of being here at Rangers. Before I came here, they told me it is a big club with amazing fans, but I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is. Let’s see what is going to happen in a few months.”

In the short-term, Sima’s thoughts are on a return to Prague, where he played for two years for Slavia Prague. Rangers’ next match is on Thursday night against Slavia’s arch-rivals Sparta Prague. “Every European game is hard, especially when you play a team like Sparta Prague,” said Sima. “I know them well from my time in the Czech Republic. The quality we have here makes me think we can beat them over there. That’s what I believe. I understand it’s a hard game for us – but I am expecting us to win.”

Sima enjoyed his time win the Czech capital and is looking forward to returning. “It is two years since I left Prague but I have a lot of good memories of my time in that city,” he added. “I was a Slavia Prague player, so for sure, the Sparta fans will not like me! But I am happy to be going there in a Rangers shirt and will be doing everything to win this game. I just played one game against them and I scored two goals. So I would love to do the same on Thursday.”