
If we go back maybe to December 2020, Borna Barišić had the world at his feet. Having nailed a stunning 3 assists in the group stage of the Europa League (all for Alfredo Morelos) he sat 19th overall in the competition, funnily enough only two less than Morelos himself (who finished top), and of course was a huge part of 55.
Barišić’s stock was sky-high, he was arguably one of Britain’s most in-form left backs, he was a regular for his country, and had we sold him that summer of 2021 after 55 with the club and his stock so high, Rangers would have been expecting at least £10M-£20M for him.
If fellow Croat left back Borna Sosa was worth around £20M last summer, and earned Stuttgart a-still healthy £10M to Ajax, Barišić would have fetched similar.
And while his form held strongly that following year, it definitely caved during the journey to Sevilla, when ‘that’ trip to Parkhead and that 3-0 rather rinsed him, and Backwards Barisic was, sadly, born(a) as he got hooked at half time.
His heart just hasn’t been in it since, and while he was professional enough when he played, it was abundantly clear he wanted out. He needed a change.
Unfortunately Borna Barisic stayed at Rangers for probably two years too long, and all the good form from autumn 2019 to late 2021 was rather undone by a truly abysmal 2022 onwards.
The addition of Ridvan was supposed to replace Borna outright – a Turkey international, experienced in the Super Lig, a top top player, but injury and homesickness made him struggle to settle, and sadly we had to contend with further Barisic.
This is not to smear Borna, he never really did anything as a Rangers player which caused any ill-feeling, apart from perhaps that scuffle with a fan recently, but it was obvious his heart was not in the club and he wanted to leave.
It’s just a shame that not only his Rangers career ended so wetly, but that we didn’t get a penny for a player who once hit maybe £15M in value at his peak.
Originally we signed a Croatia international, a Croatia just smarting from their world cup final loss to France – this was a lad with some value alright.
Celtic sold theirs – Juranovic, to Berlin, for about £10M, that’s what we could have got for ours.
But as usual, club mismanagement meant he leaves for free, off a rather wretched 24 months.
We do wish him well, he never disgraced himself, and he’s a decent bloke of course, but it could have been very different had 3-0 at Parkhead not happened and he’d been sold the summer before it.
Sliding doors.