Podcasts

Rangers: Peter Grant voices his frustration over Ridvan Yilmaz setback

|
Image for Rangers: Peter Grant voices his frustration over Ridvan Yilmaz setback

Radio pundit Peter Grant has admitted he is disappointed for Rangers’ Ridvan Yilmaz following his injury setback.

Following his first Gers game in the Champions League, Joshua Barrie of the Rangers Review called for the Turkish left-back to start at the weekend for the Ibrox giants.

And while he was selected by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he was forced off less than 10 minutes into Saturday’s fixture against Aberdeen.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s game with Ajax, Van Bronckhorst revealed that the 21-year-old will be out until after the World Cup with a hamstring injury.

Speaking on the GO Radio Football Show, Grant reacted to the news.

He said: “It’s a blow for the kid because we said the other week, we needed to start seeing him playing, because when was he going to play?

“You think in the European game, he done himself justice, he had a wee shaky moment, but you’re always going to expect [that].

“Plus, everyone’s watching to see what he’s like, so every mistake he made, everybody highlighted it.

“But to be fair to him, I thought he showed a wee bit about him as if ‘give me the ball’, tried to do his defending properly.

“It’s just a bit unfortunate – and unfortunate, probably because of the lack of games, maybe that’s why he ends up getting a hamstring injury.”

TIF Thoughts on Grant’s comments…

Is Barisic good enough to be Rangers first-choice left-back?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yilmaz had finally seemed to have won Van Bronckhorst over having found himself behind Borna Barisic in the pecking order at the Light Blues since arriving at the club.

This weekend was only the second time that Barisic hadn’t started in the Scottish Premiership this season, with Yilmaz coming in for the 4-1 victory over the Dons.

Having created one big chance and making a team-high three interceptions (SofaScore) against Napoli, the 5ft 7in defender was rewarded with a place in the side on Saturday, but it ultimately ended in disappointment.

Of course, this appears to be more a case of bad luck rather than any fault of Van Bronckhorst’s, but perhaps more prior rotation could have avoided the full-back lasting such a short amount of time.

The former Besiktas man has dealt with muscle problems before in his short career, but this is a frustrating setback for the summer signing. Hopefully, it doesn’t hinder his development at Ibrox all that much.

Share this article