There’s quite a few Rangers fans who don’t fancy Borna Barisic extending his current contract with the club beyond 2024.
And if he were to naturally depart Ibrox in the summer, Ridvan Yilmaz and the emerging Johnly Yfeko would be Gers’ only natural options at left-back – unless Philippe Clement brings someone new in next month.
Yilmaz is contracted until 2027 so he may be sticking around for a little longer but the £5m Turkish defender has earned a very vocal detractor who wants to see the back of him sooner rather than later.
And that man is former Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson, who has recently went after Yilmaz via the Open Goal podcast in recent days.
Derek Ferguson denounces Ridvan Yilmaz
56-year-old Ferguson doesn’t see what Yilmaz brings to the table in a Rangers jersey, a stark contrast to Scotland hero James McFadden. The latter thinks Yilmaz has qualities carrying the ball forward but Ferguson is not having him one bit.
Ferguson was initially asked who he’d like to start in this weekend’s Viaplay Cup Final against Aberdeen at left-back, to which he replied: “Barisic every day of the week for me.”
He then went on to denounce Yilmaz, saying: “Listen, I’ve watched him (Yilmaz) quite a lot and had a wee look at him but physically, not for me.
“On the ball, he does some good things but then sometimes he’s really rash and you think ‘why are you even playing that pass?’
“I think it was £5m that could have been spent better elsewhere. There’s plenty of other players even in Scotland that Rangers could have went after and brought in, even in the (Scottish) Championship. That’s terrible, isn’t it? That I believe are better players.
“I don’t think he’s that good. He runs about like a headless chicken. See the goal he scored (against Livingston in Viaplay Cup), he didn’t know what he was doing. He was running out of steam and he was lucky, by the way.
“He got into an area, he was jiggered and didn’t know what to do with the ball. He’s not my cup of tea. And another thing as well, I don’t want to be beating him, but you see him running out of gas after 65 minutes.”
