Rangers skipper James Tavernier has surged clear of Arsenal star Hector Bellerin and two internationals in a Europa League right-back poll.
Tavernier has been outstanding at both ends of the pitch so far this season.
The 29-year-old has silenced his critics with strong defensive displays which have contributed to a plethora of clean sheets, while he’s scored 12 goals and registered nine assists in 20 appearances in all competitions.
He’s been as influential in Europe as he has been in the Premiership, scoring in all three Europa League qualifying rounds and then against Standard Liege on matchday one, before bagging a pair of assists last time out at Benfica.
As a result, Tavernier is receiving individual recognition and is currently the top-ranking defender in the FedEx Europa League Performance Zone.
It seems he’s highly thought of by thousands of fans, too.
That’s because he’s currently topping a poll started by the Europa League Twitter account, despite being pitted against a number of quality players.
The EL account tweeted on Tuesday afternoon asking fans “Which right-back are you picking?” before providing Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin, Tavernier, Youcef Atal of Nice and PSV’s Denzel Dumfries as the four options.
Bellerin has been a member of the Gunners first-team since 2013, while Atal and Dumfries are established Algeria and Netherlands internationals respectively.
Yet, Tavernier looks set to win the poll by a substantial margin. At the time of writing, the Englishman had received 70.7% of the 18,249 votes.
The poll is set to run for another few days, but there’s next to no chance of the Rangers star being caught, given that his closest challenger, Bellerin, had only received 15.9% of the votes.
