Under-fire Rangers captain James Tavernier has been named the most valuable player in the Scottish Premiership this season despite a downturn in form.
The Ibrox skipper has overseen yet another domestic collapse at the club with his squad of players falling nine points behind Celtic in the title race.
Part of this has been down to the Rangers captain, who underperformed in the 4-0 drubbing at Celtic Park and who has been found wanting defensively several times this season.
Hobbling around the pitch at times, its led to rumours that the Rangers captain is carrying an injury as he ambled to the World Cup break.
But as detailed by the Herald, the Rangers captain is actually the most valuable player as per “On-Ball Value” in the Scottish Premiership according to StatsBomb.
Rangers captain James Tavernier ranked Premiership’s top player
“On-Ball Value” seeks to measure the value of each event on the pitch and the impact it has on the side either scoring or conceding.
Despite the club’s woeful domestic performances at times this season, Rangers captain James Tavernier (0.59) tops the list, whilst Ryan Kent (0.51) is 3rd with Celtic winger Jota in 2nd (0.55).
Borna Barisic (0.40) is the only other Rangers player in the top 20, the Ibrox left-back seventh.
The Ibrox captain might be under-fire and not performing at the level expected of him at times this season, but statistically he is still the best player in the league.
That’s quite remarkable given the player has had to beat off suggestions he is actually injured with James Tavernier cutting a war weary figure in recent weeks.
But whilst there has been a downturn in the player’s form, Tav’s return of six goals and four assists in his 15 Premiership matches isn’t exactly an awful return for a right-back.
Meanwhile, with Ryan Kent’s influence shown by the fact he’s third on the list, one Premier League club is reportedly eyeing a bargain move.
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