Major player enters game as Rangers receive £4.5 million boost amid chaos at Hearts.

As Rangers lament yet more injuries after the Scottish Premiership win over Hearts, the return of perennially crocked hitman Kemar Roofe went a little under the radar.

The Ibrox side have been decidedly short on effective firepower in recent weeks with Abdallah Sima once again the hero in a 1-0 victory at Tynecastle.

Rangers lack effective firepower

Rangers’ over-reliance on Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima is on the precipice of becoming a bad joke with the club seriously devoid of any reliable finishing talent.

Despite splurging £21m in the summer, with the guts of it going on the aforementioned trio, Rangers have yet to find any serious consistency in terms of goalscoring outside of Sima this season.

Philippe Clement is clear that there will be no big changes in Govan until next summer and that means the likes of Kemar Roofe and co will have to step up.

The Jamaican international, 30, has been a serious let-down in the availability department over his four seasons in Glasgow but perhaps he can stage one last Ibrox hurrah.

Kemar Roofe must build on Hearts return

Kemar Roofe came off the bench against Hearts with 20 minutes to play, this the striker’s first minutes since playing an hour against St Mirren at the start of October.

That means that – despite showing up on the bench against Hibs, Livingston, Sparta Prague and Aris Limassol – this is the first minutes Kemar Roofe has earned under Philippe Clement.

It comes after the Rangers manager promised to get to the the bottom of the striker’s injury problems, Kemar Roofe besieged by injury issues ever since joining the Gers.

A quality striker option whenever he has been available, Roofe’s record of 37 goals in 89 games and just under 4600 minutes (124 minutes per goal) speaks for itself.

Given his first appearance of Philippe Clement’s tenure against Hearts, there will be tentative hopes Kemar Roofe can now begin to consistently justify the £4.5m the club paid to sign him from Anderlecht almost four years ago.

With chairman John Bennett talking about wages being freed up at the end of the season when pressed on the current squad, Roofe’s Rangers career depends on it.