Rangers have plenty of issues to solve throughout the team and the last thing that Philippe Clement would have wanted was to be without his first-choice left-back for a prolonged period of time.
As yet, there is no prognosis for the Turkey international, however, the manager at least has the comfort of knowing that the transfer window is still open if he wants to secure a replacement.
One player that Rangers could, or should, return for is Owen Beck, the Liverpool academy graduate who starred at Dundee last season and who even managed to force his way into Jurgen Klopp’s plans.
Rangers can solve injury blow with Owen Beck move
According to GiveMeSport, he is available for a reported £3m, the 22-year old is being chased by a number of clubs including QPR and even Celtic with the Premier League outfit thought to favour a permanent move over another loan spell despite his contract expiring in 2026.
Speaking after recalling Beck for a short period, then Liverpool boss Klopp explained why the young defender was back at his parent club:
“It was good.
“So, we always saw and were pretty positive about Owen but then he had two really difficult loan spells, which was a surprise that it didn’t work out because of what we thought about Owen, but that’s how it is, especially with young boys when you send them away from home and stuff like this.
“Plenty of things can happen there and it always needs to fit really well – it must be the right manager, must be the right team, if you have another left-back there and he has experience… there are so many things [that] can make a loan spell not really happening.
“That was probably for him the case and now in Dundee it was fine and he made big steps, and now the situation here is clear: we lose two of our left-backs so we think it makes sense if a boy we like is available for us, we bring him back. That’s all.”
Rangers have time to rectify Ridvan situation
Rangers have a decision to make.
Ridvan Yilmaz is clearly a talented player who makes a difference when he is in the team, but Clement won’t want to persevere with his first-choice left-back only being available for parts of the season.
Jefte isn’t ready to take over and has looked more comfortable higher up the pitch which leaves Robbie Fraser.
Like Jefte, he’s fine as a backup or to rotate with, however, playing regularly would weaken the defence.
Beck has proven that he can cope with the physicality of the Scottish league after imrpessing with Dundee and it was little surprise to see Rangers linked in January.
Should Ridvan’s latest muscle injury be a long-term one, Nils Koppen can add another position in terms of one that he needs to fill.
He might not have been good enough to hold down a regular place in Liverpool’s squad but Klopp trusted him enough to provide cover.
With the margin of error being minimal, signing a player who comes with almost no risk wouldn’t be a bad strategy.
