The truth about Ridvan Yilmaz is we won’t know his true fate till 11:30PM UK on February 1st.
The Rangers left back, in excellent form and finally first choice, has been subject to some of the most feverish speculation about his future, based on the fact that 3-6 months ago he did want to leave the club and try a fresh start elsewhere.
Ridvan was tired of the bench, tired of being second fiddle to Borna Barisic, and being tired of all of that having lasted around 17 months he was very open to a move.
But in the past 6+ weeks, that’s really, really changed.
Borna got injured, and Ridvan found the door in front of him opening, and now the Croat is deputy because the Turk has shone so well.
There was and is a spot of shop window in there too, but his English is strong now, and he’s genuinely happy in Glasgow with Rangers for the first time.
But Turkish media are notorious, and Turkish clubs are a horror to deal with.
Turkish media have used Ridvan (as they do other Turkish players) for clicks and traffics for months, making up stories repeatedly about him for the traffic. They even claimed at one point that national manager Vincenzo Montella travelled to Glasgow to basically threaten the defender, and that Yilmaz had confronted Clement about this.
The latest is Galatarasay making personal phone calls to him (pretty sure that’s called tapping up, btw) and begging him to come, while trying to offer Rangers a loan deal then £4M in the summer.
Fiction, absolute fabrication, and Turkish outlets do that constantly.
And their clubs are a mare to deal with – let’s be very glad Rangers did not have to deal with Fenerbahce when Ryan Kent went there, and now HE sees what a mare they are to deal with having done so first hand.
The imminent signing of Jefte does shake things up a bit – we wonder if that is insurance in case either Ridvan or Borna does move on. The kid seems a decent left back, and Rangers need two minimum for the rest of the season.
As things stand, Rangers will have Ridvan and Borna for the rest of the season at least.
And the issue with Ridvan? Even though the situation with him has changed the past few months, it’s still a source of fuel for the Turkish media so they’re not just going to stop using his name and the 6 months of speculation for traffic.
Most Rangers fans are happy with the current status quo at LB, but who knows what the final few days of this window will bring.