So it’s now official – ex-Rangers winger Ryan Kent becomes the first of the departed five to find a new club, and it’s a curious choice for the attacker as he does indeed make permanent his switch to Turkey to join Super Lig giants Fenerbahce.
The most intriguing thing about all this is how Kent quickly made this move. We can now confirm he was settled in Scotland with his girlfriend and they had a collection of horses and a rather big house as of 20 months ago. Kent was happy here and indeed his Glaswegian partner had moved back to Scotland to be with him following a job in England, which had seen a lot of commuting.
With her returning to Scotland he was happy at home and he was content.
But the experience under Giovanni van Bronckhorst last season changed it, and Kent became unhappy with life in the Scottish Premiership and decided he needed a change – five seasons of the dirge of Scottish football had taken its toll and when he was offered the new deal, no amount of money was going to keep him up north anymore.
This was a situation where Kent decided he wanted to be happy again at the workplace and wanted a better challenge and league than the SPL.
Let’s be clear – Kent never stopped loving Rangers – he loved our club and his time here – just because he’s not really a happy-looking camper at the best of times doesn’t mean he was ever unhappy at Ibrox.
He was just unhappy with the league, and that took its toll the season gone.
When it came to a new deal, no amount of financial incentive was keeping him in Scotland – his girlfriend had indeed informed a lot of their friends Ryan was fed up with Scotland. Not Rangers, never Rangers, but Scotland.
But the curious choice is going to the hellish Turkish league – either Kent didn’t have any good offers from the Premier League, or he decided to reject them, and he’s gone instead to what is still a very good league, but not the one he was expected to go to.
Turkey is alongside Holland, Belgium, Portugal and perhaps Greece as the ‘lesser’ five behind Germany, Spain, England, France and Italy. So let’s not pretend Kent’s taken a step back to a lesser club in a smaller league.
He’s gone to a massive club in a strong league, and they will have offered him a big wage to do so.
Kent has clearly decided he didn’t want a relegation battle with Burnley, or the Championship with Leeds, and has gone for a top Turkish team who will be in the Champions League qualifiers next season.
It’s not a bad move, and unlike many of our fans, Ibrox Noise will watch him with interest to see how he does.
He’s not a bad soul, he’s taken the next step in his career. And that’s pretty much that.