The “bright” Light Blues star had an injury disrupted first season at Ibrox this term.
Glasgow Rangers recently confirmed that a number of current first-team players are due to leave on free transfers when their contracts expire this year.
The Light Blues announced that Ryan Jack, John Lundstram, Kemar Roofe, Jon McLaughlin, and Borna Barisic will all be moving on from Ibrox before the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
This leaves Nils Koppen and Philippe Clement in need of reinforcements during the upcoming summer transfer window to fill the gaps within the squad.
However, the Gers could already have an exciting replacement for Roofe already in the squad in the form of Brazilian ace Danilo, whose debut year in Glasgow has been plagued by injury.
Kemar Roofe’s Rangers season in numbers The former Anderlecht ace, who ends his Rangers career with 38 goals in 102 matches, only managed two goals in 24 appearances in all competitions for the club this season.
He also missed 12 games through injury and his fitness issues were a reoccurring problem for him throughout his time at Ibrox, which made him an unreliable player for the Scottish giants.
As you can see in the table above, Roofe consistently failed to remain available for a significant period of time across his four years in Glasgow.
His struggles in front of goal this term, with two strikes in 24, mean that allowing him to leave on a free transfer appears to be a good decision on paper, as he has been unreliable on and off the pitch.
Instead of splashing the cash on a new signing to replace the Jamaica international this summer, Danilo could return from injury to be a dream replacement.
Why Danilo would be an exciting replacement for Kemar Roofe The centre-forward was signed from Feyenoord and manager Michael Beale hailed him as an “exciting” player who wants to score and create goals for the team.
He suffered a knee injury in December that kept him out for the remainder of the season, missing 32 matches in total, but he had only missed seven games through injury between the 2020/21 and 2022/23 campaigns, which does not suggest injuries will be a long-term concern for him.
When fit, however, the Brazilian ace showcased his quality with a return of six goals and five assists in 21 appearances in all competitions, a significantly better return than Roofe’s two goals in 24 outings.
The 5 foot 9 marksman, who was hailed as “bright” by Clement, produced four goals and one assist in 12 outings in the Scottish Premiership, despite starting just five of those games.
That came after the 25-year-old ace plundered ten goals and three assists in 14 starts and 34 appearances in the Eredivisie for Feyenoord during the 2022/23 campaign.
These statistics show that the potential is there for Danilo to be a huge threat for the Gers at the top end of the pitch, as a scorer and a creator, but his unfortunate knee injury meant that he did not get to show it much this term.
Next season, though, could be his time to shine as Roofe’s replacement when he returns from injury, as the Brazilian ace could emerge as a key player for Clement.
