Barry Ferguson is baffled by Ridvan Yilmaz’s lack of Rangers action, but has a theory as to why the Turk hasn’t been used much.
The left back arrived from Besiktas for a fee of £5million in the summer as the Ibrox club ploughed some of the £19million they got for Calvin Bassey back into Gio van Bronckhorst ’s squad. Things didn’t get off to a great start for Yilmaz however as he made his debut in Rangers’ 2-0 Champions League third qualifying round first leg defeat to Union Saint Gilloise.
He’s played just three times since. Yilmaz got just over an hour of the 3-0 home Premiership win over Kilmarnock and 90 minutes against Queen of the South in the Premier Sports Cup, which a much changed Gers side won 3-1. It was then back into cold storage until a late cameo in this month's 4-0 victory over St Mirren at Ibrox.
Given the not insignificant amount spent on the Turkish Under 21 international, fans have been left wondering why they haven’t seen more of him. Borna Barisic is the established first choice on the left hand side of defence, but the Croats form hasn’t been so good as to make him undroppable, especially after another Old Firm clash against Celtic in which he was found wanting.
Yilmaz has been linked with moves back to his homeland already. Besiktask are thought to be willing to take him back on loan with a number of their domestic rivals also keeping tabs on the situation.
Ferguson admits he’s asking the same questions as punters pose to him when out and about in Glasgow. But he reckons there could be an underlying reason for Yilmaz’s lack of action so far.
“I’ve not seen enough of him,” he told Go Radio. “I watched the Queen of the South game and I'm not being disrespectful, but it’s hard to judge players in that game.
“I’m surprised and a lot of Rangers fans, whether it's in the street or in the shop, are bringing up his name. What’s going on? Why’s he not playing?
“I’m in the dark like many other Rangers supporters. When you shell that sort of fee out, you expect him to be at least be pushing. Sometimes he’s not even been in the 18. Lately he’s been involved.
“But it’s a lot of money to shell out. He is young and all players take different times to adapt and maybe that’s why. He’s a young man away from his family.
“But you want to see guys play football, especially when you shell out £5million.”
READ NEXT:
