Philippe Clement might have to sell before he buys and one Rangers player who could bring in some decent money is Ridvan Yilmaz.
In pretty much every transfer window since the Turkish international joined Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad he has been linked with a move away from Ibrox.
Now, according to Sports Digitale via YouTube, it is Galatasaray who are said to be interested in Rangers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz.
Rangers facing Ridvan Yilmaz transfer decision
The 22-year old full-back, who cost an initial £3.4m according to reports, has never consistently been able to hold down the position competing against the more experienced Borna Barisic.
As we have seen recently, when the Croatian does what he is told by a more adventurous manager, then he can be the more reliable option.
Ridvan looks good going forward and would probably be well suited to La Liga, however, his obvious lack of height makes him and easy target for SPFL clubs full of more “athletic” players.
Both Besiktas and Fenerbahce have been credited with an interest previously and the fact that he was called up by his country during the break shows that he is still highly thought of in his home land.
Sports Digitale claim that Rangers may have to prepare themselves for interest in Ridvan Yilmaz and that things haven’t gone quite to plan since moving to Ibrox:
“Rıdvan Yılmaz, who transferred to Rangers after earning 4 million Euros from Beşiktaş, could not find exactly what he wanted in Scotland.
“Recently, it has been learned that Rıdvan Yılmaz may return to the Super League. It is among the news that Galatasaray especially wants to add him to its squad.”
It’s a difficult decision for Philippe Clement to make because the Gers boss will know that he needs to have a replacement ready with no obvious promotion available from the academy other than, maybe, Johnly Yfeko.
Barisic’s contract is set to expire in the summer and he has just turned 31, but do we really want to throw all our eggs into the basket of an ageing defender with a history of hamstring issues?
As always though, money talks and, if Rangers get the sort of bid that meets Ridvan Yilmaz’s valuation then he will be sold.
If he is, I doubt that Clement will replace him with one who has such an obvious weakness for the Scottish game.
