Rangers fans unimpressed with Croatia’s Borna Barisic

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Rangers fans unimpressed with Croatia’s Borna Barisic
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 21: Borna Barasic of Rangers is seen during the UEFA Europa League 2023/24 match between Rangers FC and Real Betis at Ibrox Stadium on September 21, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ibrox Noise regulars will be well aware we go on about James Tavernier and Connor Goldson a lot, but we don’t talk half as much about Borna Barisic, and it’s patently clear that the Croat’s time at Rangers is up.

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He’s been at Rangers since 2018, that’s five years, making him one of the longest-serving players at Rangers. In fact, behind only Tavernier, Goldson and Ryan Jack, no one has been at the club longer of the established senior squad.

There are a few issues with Barisic, to say the least, and Ibrox Noise takes you through them, one by one.

1: He’s just been here too long, and probably expected his big move to a big league by now, ala countryman Juranović who got his move to the Bundesliga in the summer for around £7M-£10M. It didn’t happen for Borna, and he looks like a player who’s done his time in Scotland.

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2: Ridvan Yilmaz has now been waiting to snatch his place for 16+ months, and hasn’t yet managed it, which either says a lot for Barisic or very little for Yilmaz.

3: Barisic’s performance at Aberdeen was painfully poor – the worst passing of the visitors, and 8 attempts at crosses with none being accurate. He was a distinct weak link.

4: Barisic isn’t popular with fans these days particular. Karma Chameleon has well and truly ‘vanished’ (ironically enough) as a song, and Borna just goes through the motions. He’s not one who’s got a good relationship with the fans any more, ever since Backwards Barisic.

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5: He’s not popular with his country either. He might have quite a few caps but their fans don’t like him and always prefer Gvardiol or Sosa in his slot – they even take Juranovic over him if possible.

6: His crossing/assists are his one asset and they’ve gone to hell this season. A decent 10 assists in 29 last season, not at all bad for a LB, but just a meagre 2 this campaign. He’s not been getting in the quality crosses he used to.

So what does Clement do here? The big issue may just be the Europa League squad – Ridvan is not in this squad thanks to Beale’s quite atrocious management, and it’s meant that for the Turk to play, it’s only going to be domestic football. Meaning Clement is going to struggle to pick Borna only for Europe because he just won’t be up to speed on it.

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Beale caused so much harm and it’s still being felt.

But one thing is clear, Rangers’ situation at LB isn’t great, and Borna no longer seems capable of raising his game to a good level. Arthur Numan he’ll never be, but he’s not even what he used to be.

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