Journalist Joshua Barrie, as seen on Sky Sports, has expressed his concern over a potential crisis at left-back for Rangers with Borna Barisic advancing to the quarter-finals of the World Cup with Croatia.
The Bears defender was handed his first appearance of the tournament as he deputised for Borna Sosa in the penalty-shootout victory over Japan in the last 16, which could pose a problem for the Ibrox club ahead of the domestic season’s resumption.
Barisic’s nation will now play in the quarter-final on Friday evening, just six days before the Gers host Hibernian in their first game since the mid-season halt.
With Ridvan Yilmaz ruled out for ‘several weeks’ by former boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the start of November, it could leave Michael Beale with a selection nightmare at left-back.
The 42-year-old has no other natural option on the left-hand side of the defence, but when a viewer suggested that youngster Adam Devine – seen as a right-back – could fill in, journalist Joshua Barrie gave his take.
He said on the Rangers Review YouTube channel: “I guess that’s something that we’ll see at the Bayer Leverkusen friendly at the weekend and speaking to the manager in the lead-up to the Hibs game.
“I imagine if that break hadn’t come at that time for Rangers and they’d have been playing through all these games with basically absolutely no fit centre-backs, so that is definitely a worry – especially given the fact that although Devine can play left-back, he’s not naturally left-footed and we know how Beale tends to like to use his full-backs to go high and wide.”
TIF Thoughts on Rangers’ dilemma…
Will Michael Beale succeed at Rangers?
Yes!
No!
Devine has only made three senior appearances for the Ibrox outfit, with the 19-year-old’s only game at left-back coming against Spartans in the Scottish Challenge Cup back in October.
He is vastly inexperienced, which is less than ideal for Beale as he prepares to take charge of his first game as first-team manager.
However, the two-time Scotland U21 international could be his only option.
Barisic would likely report straight back for duty in Glasgow should his native Croatia suffer defeat on Friday, but we may see Yilmaz feature in the friendly with Bayer Leverkusen this weekend, where will have a clearer indication as to who the manager can call upon in that department.