On the subject of Rıdvan Yılmaz, Türkiye’s rising star has been speaking to his homeland’s media, and has confirmed that that the Scottish Premiership is in fact superior to the Super Lig back home citing that the quality is higher, rather pouring cold water over the notion that Ryan Kent has possibly gone to a better league.
Thanks to Rangers’ exploits in Europe, Scotland has overtaken Turkey in the coefficient, and despite having a collection of strong clubs and a bigger league in the Mediterranean, Yilmaz insists that Scotland is a stronger division.
He said:
“I was not physically ready when I first went to Scotland. They said that my physique could improve when I gained a little weight. They gave me a programme and I followed it. The physical quality is higher in Scotland. When we look at work physically, they are much stronger than us. Both training and matches are very tough. Strength in Scotland is very different level.”
This is a surprising confession if we’re honest – Ibrox Noise always believed Scotland to be a backwater league given we only have two giant teams plus a bunch of diddies, but whether it’s just lip service to the league or he’s being sincere, Yilmaz appears to find Scotland a higher standard than the one he came from.
And when we look at the European quality of Turkey, where they have only one side in the Champions League and that’s only in the second qualifying round, have no sides in the Europa League and have three sides in Conference League qualifying only, it rather confirms his point in all honesty.
For all we criticise the technical quality of the Scottish Premiership, it’s clearly superior to Turkey, and that’s from a player very experienced in both.
So while Ryan Kent might think he’s moved to a better league, it turns out Turkey is actually a step down.
Smaller club, lesser league, and only Conference League qualifying. Hope the money makes up for it mate!