ANTONIO COLAK has become used to life on the road throughout a career that has seen him call several clubs and a handful of countries home from home over the last decade.
At 28, there is a need to settle down and to leave a lasting impression. Glasgow is now his next stop and Rangers must become the side where he finds personal achievement and collective success once again.
Colak has been the name on the lips of every Rangers supporter over the last fortnight or so and his arrival at Ibrox has been a drawn-out affair as the Light Blues and PAOK haggled over the details and timings of a £1.8million deal.
Eventually, he got his move and Giovanni van Bronckhorst got his man. Time will tell if the pursuit and the patience is worth it for the Dutchman.
The fans who have been so eager to see Colak put pen-to-paper already have an inkling of what he can bring to the team and his fine strikes for Malmo in the Champions League last term are indicative and painful to recall.
That stint in Sweden was one of the most encouraging of Colak's career. He is a player who has endured difficult moments with the likes of FC Nürnberg and 1899 Hoffenheim in the country of his birth but a loan and permanent spell in his adopted homeland with Rijeka offer examples of what he can bring to a side.
Ultimately, PAOK would never see the best of him. A £2.5million switch to Greece two years ago has proven to be another false start for Colak and he is now on the move once again after choosing Rangers as his next destination.
"Antonio was great at Malmo in the first half of the last season," Apostolis Lampos of Greek Super League broadcasters Nova Sports, said.
"So he came back to PAOK in January in order to help the team which played with three targets in the Championship, Cup and Conference League.
"He managed to play 23 times, but just nine of them as a basic one. He scored three times when PAOK was expecting more from him.
"Perhaps he couldn't find his rhythm, because he was on and off. Everyone was expecting more but maybe he didn't have the opportunity to show his skills as a regular forward.
"In my opinion, Colak is a pure No. 9 with good finishing. His team must have some plays and tactics based on him.
"He has good first touch and he is passionate and aggressive inside the box. His main weakness is the transition game.
"During his time with PAOK he improved his teamwork mentality and he got great experiences under big pressure.
"His best position is nine. I'm not the one to tell if he could play in other roles with big success."
Two of those goals came against AEK Athens, while the other was scored in a cup victory over Olympiakos. They were significant moments that should have been the sparks for Colak at the Toumba Stadium.
He retained the faith of boss Răzvan Lucescu heading into the summer and got match minutes under his belt in the friendly fixtures with Go Ahead Eagles and Groningen in recent days.
By that stage, it was a matter of when, not if, he would move on. Now it is a Rangers debut that he has in sight as Van Bronckhorst counts down to the new domestic and European campaigns.
As it stands, Colak will compete with Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe for a starting jersey. The make-up of the attack could change in time but the Croatian internationalist is no stranger to the circumstances as he aims to settle in as soon as possible and go on to make a name for himself at Ibrox.
"PAOK wouldn't have let the player leave if the offer wasn't that high," Lampos said. "Of course there is not much time to find a new striker, but when the player wants to leave and the offer is too high then you can't hold the player.
"So, you accept the offer and trying your best toy find a better forward with that money as soon as you can.
"Lucescu wanted to give the chance this year to Antonio because he believes in him and he knows that he could take a more from him than the second part of the last season.
"I think that everything is about chemistry. The first one to believe that Antonio will replace Morelos in the team is Antonio.
"He must believe in himself and then he will do it. Like Georgios Giakoumakis did for Celtic. I think that after PAOK, Antonio is a team player. So he knows how to put himself under the team."
