Rangers have spent heavily on defensive reinforcements since Steven Gerrard took over as manager, with Borna Barisic and Filip Helander two of the big arrivals.
Barisic cost a reported £2.2 million from NK Osijek in the summer of 2018 [BBC Sport], while Filip Helander set the club back a reported £3.5 million, arriving from Serie A outfit Bologna in July [Scottish Sun].
At various points in time, there were question marks surrounding the deals for both players.
By the end of last season, many fans were fed up with Barisic’s poor performance levels, suggesting he’d been a waste of money. The Croatian spent much of the campaign either injured or looking ill-equipped for the Scottish game and struggled to earn a run of games in the side.
Helander spent much of his first few months at Ibrox on the bench, with Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson the first-choice central defensive pairing. When he did get a runout, against Livingston in the League Cup, for example, some fans thought he looked like an accident waiting to happen.
Yet, in recent times, both players have proven just why the Gers forked out a combined £5.7 million for their services.
An injury to Jon Flanagan sustained at the beginning of September offered Barisic a shot at nailing down the left-back berth and boy, has he taken it.
The 26-year-old starred against Feyenoord in the Europa League and has now started eleven games in a row for the Gers [Soccerbase], while also featuring on the international scene. He’s demonstrated improved defensive positioning, a willingness to get forward and crucially, quality in the final third. His inch-perfect free-kick against Hamilton and his stunning assist for Morelos at Porto are two standout moments.
As for Helander, he now seems to have established himself as Goldson’s main centre-back partner.
The big Swede has started the last four matches and has been superb in each one. In Portugal, he snuffed out the threat of star striker, Moussa Marega with a commanding display.
https://twitter.com/CorteoSport/status/1187441319481872384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1187441319481872384&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rangersnews.uk%2Fnews%2Frangers-defender-filip-helander-registered-incredible-stats-against-porto%2F
Just a few days later, he scored the winner against Motherwell and at the weekend, he broke the deadlock in the League Cup semi-final win over Hearts.
In the lead up to the crunch Europa League tie against Porto at Ibrox, these two players have gone from being fringe players to near-guaranteed starters, and it looks as though it’s money well spent from a Rangers point of view.
