When Rangers signed Borna Barisic, he was a relative unknown who’d battled the club on the European stage.
As Rangers drew NK Osijek in Steven Gerrard’s first season in charge of the club in 2018, the Croatian led his hometown club against the Gers in Europa League Qualifying. He even scored at Ibrox.
The left-back left such an impression that Steven Gerrard almost immediately snapped Borna Barisic up and from there a six year love affair has blossomed.
Rangers have a thing for Croatian footballers – the two parties just seem to go – and by the same token Borna Barisic has taken to the club like Dado Prso, Nikica Jelavic, Niko Kranjcar, and Niko Katic before him.
But if the latest coming out of Turkey is to be believed, then it looks like this summer IS heading towards the end of an era at Ibrox.
Borna Barisic to Trabzonspor
Borna Barisic is one of six Rangers first-teamers who are out of contract in the summer and is one of the club’s highest earners.
At 31-years-old the left-back has found himself increasingly playing second fiddle to Ridvan Yilmaz and reports last week suggested Trabzonspor were set to pounce.
This week, those sounds have got somewhat louder with the player’s representation at the TransferRoom conference in Italy and fresh reports coming out of Turkey.
According to Takvim, Borna Barisic’s six-year love affair with Rangers is coming to an end this summer with the left-back ’green-lighting’ a move to Trabzonspor.
End of an era for Rangers left-back
Whilst the news has saw tributes pour on from across the Rangers support, it’s fair to say that Borna Barisic has experienced his fair share of ups and downs at Ibrox.
The Rangers left-back struggled to break through into the side initially, before a heroic free-kick against St Mirren gave him the confidence to stand up and be counted.
And confidence is almost certainly the word with Borna; there was a moment when the Croatian international was signposted for a big move and his wand of a left foot was as sharp as it had ever been.
But injuries and that mental fragility have at times interrupted what was a productive Rangers career where we’ve gotten used to Borna propping up the left hand side of the defence.
On his day, the left-back was a tenacious, hard-working and potentially lethal option, his crossing as good as any player we’ve ever had in the position.
For giving us the best years of his career, Rangers fans will feel forever indebted and if Borna Barisic is to move to Trabzonspor, there might be a little tear or two shed!
Borna Barisic has made 230 appearances for Rangers, scoring 10 goals and laying on 54 assists.
The left-back has also earned 35 caps for Croatia, whilst he has a Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup, and Scottish League Cup winners’ medal, having also helped the club to the Europa League Final in 2022.
