Journalists Scott McDermott and Jonny McFarlane discussed all of the latest Rangers news on the most recent edition of the Record Rangers podcast and they spent some time talking about the possibility of Rangers cashing in on club captain James Tavernier during the show.
Like Rangers, who currently sit atop the Premiership table and are yet to taste defeat in any of their 21 fixtures in all competitions so far this season, Tavernier has enjoyed a positive start to the 2020/21 campaign.
The 29-year-old right-back has featured in all 21 of his side’s competitive fixtures so far this season and the Gers captain is currently his side’s top goalscorer in all competitions for the 2020/21 campaign, with Tavernier netting on 13 occasions in his first 21 appearances of the season – six more times than any other Rangers player has scored so far this term.
However, with Rangers announcing an operating loss of £15.9m for the year ending 30th June and with the Glasgow club said to have left the player sales market ‘widely untapped,’ the possibility of the Gers selling the in-form Englishman was discussed on this recent edition of the Record Rangers podcast and McDermott shared that he is “amazed” the club haven’t made more of an effort to sell him in recent years, saying:
“Tavernier is in the form of his life. I’m amazed that Rangers haven’t fielded more bids for him given what he’s produced in certainly the last couple of years. He’s 29 now, approaching 30 – that horse might’ve bolted a wee bit in terms of just how much they could get for him.”
Do you think Rangers will sell Tavernier next summer?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what McDermott had to say about the possibility of Rangers cashing in on Tavernier…
Perhaps you could argue that the 29-year-old has been a key part of Rangers’ squad since Steven Gerrard arrived at Ibrox for the 2018/19 campaign, as Gerrard made him captain for his first season.
The 40-year-old manager was also recently full of praise for the right-back, with Gerrard stating that he feels Tavernier “is unstoppable” at times and given how well the £4.5m-rated man has performed so far this season, perhaps it’s difficult to argue with Gerrard on that point.
As a result of that and knowing that Rangers are attempting to prevent their Old Firm rivals from winning a potentially historic 10th straight Scottish top-flight title this term, perhaps it’s understandable why Rangers haven’t sold Tavernier while in the pursuit of their first Premiership title since the 2010/11 campaign.
However, with just under two years remaining on his contract at present, perhaps the club will have to make a decision on Tavernier’s future next summer and given that he is Rangers’ second-most valuable player according to Transfermarkt, perhaps they will opt to cash in on him while they still have the chance next summer to give their finances a boost, even if they will now get less than they might have if they’d opted to sell him a year or two prior, as McDermott thinks they might.