Rangers’ chances of potentially landing Motherwell superstar Elijah Just took a massive plunge after the Kiwi winger nailed his world cup debut against Iran.
The 26-year-old, who has 45 caps for his country, has had an indifferent career in football overall.
His career stats are by no means impressive and prior to his arrival at Fir Park was worth barely £300,000.
Numbers
But his numbers in the Scottish Premiership have seen a big improvement.
True, he did little in the Split, managing zero goals or assists, but in the full season his 15 goals and assists in 30 appearances definitely shed light on his potential.
Now we are by no means saying Just is Laudrup Incarnate. He only score and assisted in the regular league season and offered zero productivity of that nature in any other competition, including the Split.
So let’s not go mad here.
But nailing two goals on your world cup debut and managing a MOTM performance is one heck of a way to realise your potential and put yourself in the shop window.
In one single match Just became New Zealand’s second-top scorer of all time, behind, ironically, team mate Chris Wood, who even more ironically provided both assists v Iran.
But where’s the Rangers angle here?
Well, Just’s value was already pretty good. Currently weighing in at around £3M thanks to a stellar maiden Motherwell season, those international goals have hiked him up big time.
You can easily say they doubled his value overnight.
If Rangers did want to make a move for Elijah Just, Derek McInnes and co. would be looking at at least a £6M pricetag. Most likely a £3M with addons or sellons.
Just is one of the Premiership’s coveted assets, and was among the POTS nominees.
At 26 he’s hitting peak level and Motherwell will very much hope to cash in big time here.