According to reports, the Euro heavyweights have beaten Rangers to the free-agent deal, with an announcement expected soon.
According to reports, the Euro heavyweights have beaten Rangers to the free-agent deal, with an announcement expected soon.
Borna Barisic may have set up Cyriel Dessers’ consolation goal in Saturday’s Old Firm derby loss to Celtic, but one of the Croatian’s signature clipped crosses was unable to cover up a slew of defensive flaws. While Borna Barisic could be forgiven for struggling with Liel Abada’s speed and mobility, seeing Rangers’ long-serving left-back getting ran around by a 32-year-old James Forrest was alarming, to say the least.
With his contract ending in July, this performance did little to strengthen the case for Barisic’s retention, as he had already lost his place to Ridvan Yilmaz prior to the Turk’s injury-enforced absence following Christmas.
Rangers need a left back to replace Borna Barisic. Rangers will likely be looking for a left-back this summer.
And, with confirmation of Gijs Smal’s much-rumored move from FC Twente to Feyenoord still pending, are the Glasgow giants still in the running for a player who led the Eredivisie in assists in 2022/23? Well, not quite. It’s been months since Fabrizio Romano announced that Smal’s free transfer to Rotterdam was ‘nearly done’, after rejecting down an unknown offer from abroad to stay in the Netherlands.
However, Feyenoord supporters need not be concerned by the subsequent radio silence. According to the Rotterdam-based journal 1908, Smal will continue his journey to De Kuip. The announcement is almost certainly coming.
Let us not forget that the transfer window will not be officially open for another few weeks. Interestingly, the report references Rangers. They claim that Feyenoord has effectively kept Smal out of reach of Philippe Clement’s side and their cross-Glasgow rivals Celtic. With both Celtic and Rangers in need of left-backs, it’s possible that the two Premiership rivals will look for similar players in similar markets in coming weeks and months.
Barisic and John Lundstram may both be going for Turkey. “In the past, I had players that wanted to leave and as a result, they dropped a level. But I haven’t received any such indication from anyone in the building; otherwise, I can’t let them play,” Clement remarked at the start of May, with Barisic and John Lundstram apparently in talks to join Turkish giants Trabzonspor.
“They are fighting for trophies. If you don’t have an agreement with the club, you want to go as far as possible, and the greatest way to accomplish it is by winning trophies. You want to go with victory. “For months, there have been reports concerning a large number of participants and various topics. Players can be chosen as long as nothing is official and I observe the proper things in training and the locker room. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, Borna will be in the selection. Every day, I see Lunny as he was two, three, and five months ago. He’s fighting for the club. All of these athletes are busy earning trophies and doing
Lundstram, whose relocation to the Black Sea has been heavily hinted at by Trabzonspor’s president, had a dreadful afternoon as Celtic extended their lead to six points. After increasing the hosts’ lead with a disastrous own goal, the former Sheffield United midfielder was sent out for a clumsy lunge on the half-time whistle.
