Ridvan Yilmaz stuns pundit with ‘perfection’ for Rangers vs St Mirren amid transfer exit links
Ridvan Yilmaz stunned Gordon Smith with his involvement in the opener for Rangers at St Mirren, with his work branded “perfection”.
The Turkish youngster played a vital role in the build up to Fashion Sakala’s opener midway through the first half, receiving a pass from John Souttar before playing a perfectly-weighted through-ball down the left flank for the Zambian to run onto.
The pass went inside the full-back and Sakala did the rest, cutting into the penalty area past the home defenders before squeezing his shot inside the post via a deflection, but Smith was wowed by Ridvan’s work.
Reacting to the 26th-minute strike on the Rangers TV match commentary (27 May, 12.57pm) the former Light Blues midfielder said: “It was a great ball from Ridvan, I have to say that. It was perfection in terms of the quality, how it just ran right into his path. He didn’t really have to stop or anything, it was just superb, inside the full-back there.
“[Sakala] gets there first, full-back’s trying to stop him, but this is where he does well just beating that man. Gets a little bit of fortune with the final effort but nevertheless that’s a good goal from Fashion Jr.”
Growth
It has been a difficult start to life at Ibrox for the summer signing from Besiktas as he struggled to convince Giovanni van Bronckhorst to trust him ahead of Borna Barisic, then had a major chunk of the season lost to injury.
He’s been making up for lost time under Michael Beale in the closing weeks of the season, but there have been suggestions of a move back to Turkey, with Galatasaray linked most recently [Tivibu Spor, 24 May].
However, reacting to his participation in the recent Old Firm derby win on Twitter (13 May) Ridvan certainly suggested he isn’t going anywhere, and based on his outings lately that is a positive.
For all Barisic’s left foot is difficult to rival in the SPFL his overall game often sees him come in for scrutiny, and with Ridvan eight years his junior at 22 he looks to be the exact profile of player that Beale would be looking for at the position.
So if the youngster can keep up his late-season progress there is every reason to believe he can be the left-back of the future at Ibrox, with the senior man possibly moving on.
Sakala had to finish the job but he was set well on his way by the full-back in the latest sign that his Gers career is belatedly taking off.
In other Rangers news, a pundit believes Sakala might be the only man left amid a possible Ibrox exodus this summer.