As Rangers fail in a January bid for Brazilian left-back Jefte, Ridvan Yilmaz provides a potential silver lining amid links to Galatasaray.
Reports have suggested that a January move for the Fluminense academy graduate, 20, has collapsed because APOEL Nicosia aren’t willing to strike an early release.
Rangers are still expected to follow through on their Jefte interest come the summer but in the meantime the situation has a potentially huge knock-on effect in the transfer window.
Namely, this could have a direct impact on the situation with Ridvan Yilmaz who continues to be linked with a move to Galatasaray.
Jefte news to have Ridvan Yilmaz impact?
Those Ridvan Yilmaz exit links have dominated the January transfer window with Verona linked earlier in the window and Galatasaray more recently.
Reports have suggested that the Turkish side have already had a bid rejected for the player with Rangers clear Yilmaz will only be sold if someone meets the left-back’s valuation.
There has been a suggestion Rangers want €6m (£5m) for the ex-Besiktas star.
The latest reports coming out of Turkey have suggested that Galatasaray have already identified other targets with doubts now surrounding those links to Ridvan.
Couple this with the news surrounding Jefte and suddenly any potential Ridvan Yilmaz exit could be kicked back to the summer with Rangers suddenly short in the position if the player leaves.
Rangers left-back upheaval on the horizon
Rangers currently have two international options at left-back with Turkish star Ridvan Yilmaz and Croatian counterpart Borna Barisic on the books.
The futures of both players are certainly up in the air, with those Galatasaray links to Yilmaz also coming with Borna Barisic out of contract at the end of the season.
There is expected to be upheaval in the position in the coming months but for the time being, it looks like that will have to wait.
As we enter transfer deadline day, should Ridvan Yilmaz move to Galatasaray, Rangers have little time to sign a replacement.
Couple this with reports that Rangers still want to sign Jefte in the summer and suddenly the idea we’d splash out on another left-back this month raises eyebrows.
