Summary International break allows time for Sima to recover from injury, possibly back in action post-break for Rangers. Jelavic's impressive transfer value in today's money exceeds current value of Senegal star Sima. Sima's performance stats show significant improvement needed to match Jelavic's impact on and off the pitch.
The international break may have come at a good time for Glasgow Rangers as it has provided one of their star players with more time to recover from his injury.
Ibrox hero Abdallah Sima suffered a thigh injury whilst on international duty in January, and it was revealed that he would be out for at least two months.
It has been two months since that timeline was provided and Philippe Clement could, therefore, have the impressive Brighton & Hove Albion loanee available after the break.
Sima has been in impressive goalscoring form for the Gers this season and has seen his value soar during his time in Scotland. Rangers once, however, sold a centre-forward for even more money than he is worth now when you adjust for inflation in football transfer fees.
How much Rangers sold Nikica Jelavic for in 2024 money
Then-Light Blues manager Alex McCoist cashed in on Nikica Jelavic in January 2012 after he had enjoyed a terrific 18 months of goalscoring form in Scottish football.
Per Totally Money, Premier League side Everton splashed out a fee of £5.9m at the time of the deal, which their index values at £15.7m in the present day.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
Rangers had signed Jelavic from Rapid Vienna for £4m in 2010 and the forward, as you can see in the table below, hit the ground running in Glasgow with a fantastic goalscoring record in the Scottish Premiership.
Appearances
23
22
Minutes played
1,900
1,799
Goals
16
14
Assists
7
5
The Croatian marksman racked up an eye-catching 36 goals and 15 assists in 56 appearances for the club in all competitions across his 18 months at Ibrox, before his big-money move to Goodison Park.
This shows that Rangers hit the jackpot with Jelavic as they enjoyed 18 months of his terrific performances on the pitch for the club, and earned a huge sum of money for him in January 2012, which would be worth more in 2024 than Sima is currently valued at.
Abdallah Sima's current market value
Transfermarkt currently has the Senegal international at a value of €7m (£6m), whilst FootballTransfers have placed his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) slightly higher at €7.9m (£6.8m).
Neither of those valuations, however, are worth close to what Jelavic's move to Everton would be worth if it had been made in the current day, despite Sima's impressive form for Rangers.
Appearances
20
Starts
15
Goals
10
Big chances missed
6
Assists
2
Pass accuracy
68%
On loan from Brighton, the versatile forward has produced ten goals and two assists in 33 appearances in all competitions for the Gers, which is a return of one goal contribution every 2.75 matches on average.
Whereas, the Croatia international plundered a goal or an assist every 1.10 games on average with his aforementioned 51 direct goal contributions in 56 games.
This shows that Sima still has a long way to go, in terms of his output level in the final third, to reach the same levels as Jelavic at Ibrox, both in terms of success on the pitch and value off of it.
