Borna Barisic in danger of being frozen out at Rangers with Adam Devine set for first team chance
Borna Barisic has been a regular at left-back for Rangers since he joined the club in 2018 but he could be about to be usurped at Ibrox.
The Croatian international is still at the World Cup due to his side reaching the semi-finals in Qatar and that means he won’t be available to face Hibernian on Thursday (15 December).
With Ridvan Yilmaz still out with an injury, Michael Beale appears set to call upon traditional right-back Adam Devine to fill in with no other first-team left-back available.
“Sometimes when you have a right-footer at left back, they play inside the pitch more – Jon Flanagan did that for us a few years ago very well,” Michael Beale said, as quoted by The Scotsman.
“It opens up other things – maybe playing into Antonio (Colak) or Alfredo (Morelos) a bit more. I have got a lot of trust in Adam. He is a boy we always had high hopes for.”
Inverted full-backs, as Devine would be likely to do should he play against Hibs, are all the rage right now with Joao Cancelo and Manchester City leading the trend in the Premier League.
When they work with the system in play they can be a very dangerous weapon to have in attack as they become very difficult to mark for wingers who would typically track them back down the flank.
They also leave the wingers on their own to attack the opposition full-back one on one which is always preferred to being doubled up on, something that Ryan Kent experiences often in the Premiership.
If Devine can make this role his own and Rangers get positive results with it in operation then Barisic may return to Auchenhowie to find his usual spot in the side is no longer available.
At 30 years of age, he could even use that fact to get a move away from Glasgow with maybe one big move left in him if anybody fancies an inconsistent defender.
In other Rangers news, Devine isn’t the only youngster impressing as this loanee reminded Beale what he can do with a stunning solo goal.