There have been a few sarcastic remarks aimed at Ibrox Noise over the Ridvan Yilmaz story. One guy even made a quip that ‘I must have misread the Ridvan story as ‘alone’ and not ‘a loan’’ because even Ibrox Noise is a bit puzzled that Rangers manager Philippe Clement keeps playing a left back he has now confirmed is effectively leaving.

The Turk’s presence in the past two XIs is definitely strange – Clement has confirmed the story is true, that there is interest in him and he’s close to departure, and yet has continued to pick him for the recent friendlies.

To be clear on what the manager said:

“I cannot respond on that for any player who is here. I am busy with one thing. Everybody who is here is a player of Rangers and I commit fully with all the staff to get the best out of them. But for every player at Rangers if there comes an offer that cannot be refused or is a good thing for the club then we need to discuss it. At the moment that is not the case. Ridvan is here and he started the game. We will see. Players also need to show they really want to be here in the next couple of months. We need to be prepared for everything, for every position also and make sure that we have solutions.”

First of all to start the comment with ‘I cannot respond’ then do exactly that shows Clement is not quite as consistent and straight-shooting as we’d think.

But the next part confirms Ridvan is on his way:

“That is one position that we have two players. One is end of contract, the other one there is a lot of rumours around. So it is clear that we need to be ready for that position. We cannot go on in three competitions with one left full-back. That is correct. And in other positions it is the same.”

The comment about left back confirms Ridvan will leave. Borna isn’t moving on right now, the question about him is whether he signs a new deal or leaves at the end of the season on a Bosman, but Clement explicitly infers Ridvan over the ‘3 competitions’ comment, because that’s what Rangers are in for the rest of the season as things stand.

So Ridvan will move on, and Clement has potentially changed the rules about transfers. Usually when a player is about to leave, he’s left out of the action to preserve his ‘health’ and get the cash from the buying team. Think Cuellar all those years ago.

But Ridvan plays on – either it definitely is indeed a loan to buy, and the club isn’t so bothered by that, or indeed Clement doesn’t care that he’s leaving, he’ll pick who he wants.

Either way, the Turk will move on, and Rangers have contingency in place to replace him.

Owen Beck perhaps?