Rangers boss Michael Beale has hinted at an imminent chance for Ridvan Yilmaz to shine in place of Borna Barisic.
The Gers picked up another win on Sunday, beating Raith Rovers 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Connor Goldson’s header, a Ryan Nolan own goal and a late Scott Arfield strike handed Rangers a comfortable win.
Rangers have moved another step closer to retaining the Scottish Cup and Beale will of course be delighted with another win.
Beale was also able to give run-outs to both Ridvan Yilmaz and John Souttar, who are ramping up their returns from injury.
Both players arrived last summer but have yet to really see their Rangers careers take off having suffered injury problems.
Michael Beale hints at Rangers chance for Ridvan Yilmaz
Rangers fans were excited about the capture of Yilmaz over the summer.
After selling Calvin Bassey to Ajax, Rangers reinvested some of the cash in signing left back Yilmaz from Besiktas.
Rangers splashed £5million on Yilmaz and seemingly believed they had found their left back of the future.
The Turkish international racked up four goals and seven assists in 62 games for Besiktas and looked to be a hugely exciting talent.
However, Yilmaz has only appeared in three league games this season and eight in all competitions.
YIlmaz just hasn’t been able to get going as a Rangers player and there have even been rumours linking him with a return to Turkey.
Beale wants to see Yilmaz kick on now though and believes a first-team chance could be coming soon.
Beale highlighted to Rangers Review that Borna Barisic’s wife is due to give birth in the near future, which may open the door for Yilmaz to get a chance in Barisic’s absence.
That would only be a game or at maximum two, but Yilmaz needs to take any possible chance he gets – possibly starting with the trip to Motherwell this coming weekend.
“He played 45 minutes on Tuesday and then on Friday we brought the B team over and we played another 30 minutes, so that got him 75, he got another 30 today, so he’s got good minutes in his legs this week,” said Beale. “He’s found this week challenging and difficult, so has John Souttar as well, because obviously they’ve gone from hardly anything to getting quite significant minutes and moving forward, we will hopefully see him fully fit now and he can start his Rangers career really, because obviously he’s been stop-start.”
“Borna Barisic’s wife is expecting in the next few days, so who knows, there might be an opportunity for him sooner rather than later to go in and start,” he added.