Borna Barisic could move towards Rangers exit door after latest international snub
Borna Barisic has had an interesting start to the season with Rangers, with constant speculation about his future both at club and international level.
The full-back has missed the Light Blues’ last two matches and has only managed 12 minutes under the management of Philippe Clement, having picked up an injury during the Belgian boss’ Ibrox debut against Hibernian.
During the summer transfer window, there was plenty of speculation suggesting that the left-back could have been set to depart Glasgow as he entered the final year of his Rangers contract, with Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb interested in making a late move [Germanijak, 7 September].
No such move materialised and currently the 30-year-old remains a Rangers player, at least until the end of the season and is set to return to first-team training this week ahead [Football Scotland, 31 October] of the Viaplay Cup clash with Hearts on Sunday 5 November.
But there has been more bad news for the Croatian international after he was left out of the national side’s squad for the November international fixtures, instead being limited to a place on the standby list for their games against Latvia and Armenia [Glasgow Times, 31 October].
Given Croatia’s “disastrous” October international break which saw them lose to both Turkey and Wales, changes have been made to the squad in the hope of rediscovering some form and that has included dropping the Rangers defender from the side.
Barisic has been below par both at club and international level so far this season and the decision to leave him out of the national side could see him push to depart Ibrox to try and recover his fledgling international career before it is too late.
A move to Dinamo Zagreb would allow him to return to his home country and ensure that those selecting the national side would be unable to ignore his performances, whereas while he is playing his football in Glasgow he remains ever so slightly out of sight.
There has always been the sense that Rangers have been looking to upgrade on the 30-year-old over the last few transfer windows, with Ridvan Yilmaz signed with the intention of becoming the Light Blues first choice left-back ahead of Barisic.
This international snub may be the final push for the left-back to force his way out of Clement’s side, whether for a nominal fee in January or after the conclusion of his contract at the end of the current campaign. A January move could be more appealing for the defender as he will hope to make the Euro 2024 squad should Croatia qualify ahead of Wales.
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has said that the Gers have become reliant on James Tavernier despite his poor recent form