Fashion Sakala was an enigma that fans were dying to love

After a summer of incomings, Rangers completed their second departure for a fee this summer as Fashion Sakala departed the club.

The club confirmed the Zambian would be moving to Saudi Arabia to Al-Fayha in an undisclosed fee, although it has widely reported to be the region of £4m.

From a purely financial point of view, this represents a great bit of business from Rangers, given the fact that Sakala arrived at the club on a free transfer two years ago, and at the age of 26 with two years left on his deal, was approaching what would be viewed as the prime period of his career.

There is also a belief from a section of the support that the fee Rangers received was arguably an inflation of what they believed this current value was given his on-field displays, although this has been a trend over the full summer when it comes to the market dealings from Saudi Arabia.

However, there are also certain voices who believe Fashion Sakala still had a part to play in the club going forward, especially following on from the opening day defeat to Kilmarnock.

Taking the in-game aspect aside for a moment, Sakala really was a player who was incredibly difficult to dislike.

Always willing to work himself into the ground for the cause, his infectious smile presented you the impression of a player who was loving being in Govan. Of course, he had easily the best player song in the squad last season with the spin on Shakira’s Waka Waka – it really does hit differently when those with the good chants leave, and we’ve now lost two of them in Sakala and Malik Tillman.

When you look at his raw numbers alone as well, he did produce. In 91 appearances for Rangers, Sakala contributed 24 goals and 15 assists. This goal tally was four times that of Ryan Kent in that period – a player who many deemed to be far superior in ability to Sakala.

Despite this, the forward was a constant source of frustrations to anyone who followed the club over the past 24 months. Why was that? It was because of the fact that he was the most Jekyll and Hyde style player you will probably ever see at Ibrox.

I don’t even think Fashion Sakala himself knew what version of him was going to show up on any given day. One day, you’d see him take down a ball from a great height in a fashion (no pun intended) that Lionel Messi would be proud of. The next minute, he’d go on to take a shot from the left side of the box, in an area where I cross would be the better option, and proceed to hit the ball out for a throw on the other side of the pitch.

His inconsistences can be summed up perfectly by two moments in the crucial cup ties against Celtic last season where, at crucial times in both games, he’d proceed to hit a shot into the side netting with the goal gapping.

Strangely though, he’d have one of the best goalscoring records in our squad in Old Firm games during his spell at Ibrox, but these would tend to fall more in less meaningful games. When you wanted someone to rely upon in the big games, there was a sense that Fashion Sakala wasn’t the man for this occasion.

So with the squad seemingly moving up a level this summer, there was a sense that Sakala’s maverick nature just wouldn’t be a fit anymore – and when a club offers you the sums of money we were offered for a squad player, you’ve got to take it, especially when you look at the way Rangers have handled player departures in recent times.

If he had the consistent quality to match the personality, then he could have been one of the best to play for the club in the recent generation. His pace was frightening and times, and is an asset Michael Beale could really do with replacing with funds allow him to, but his departure really was a necessity for the future of the squad.

He comes from Zambia, but he truly is a Rangers through and through now – and we wish him all the best going forward.