Clement could replace Yilmaz with Rangers swoop for 5ft 11 “absolute bargain” in Jan – opinion

Glasgow Rangers are showing no signs of complacency as the Ibrox side have already secured their first new signing of the winter window.

Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Fabio Silva has joined the Gers on a short loan spell until the end of the season in order to bolster Philippe Clement’s attacking options following the injury to Danilo.

Having secured the first piece of silverware of the season by lifting the League Cup earlier this month, the Belgian coach is certainly not resting on his laurels as he aims to make a serious Premiership title challenge.

Silva will be the first of a few new arrivals in Glasgow over the next couple of weeks. The question is, who will be next through the door?

Rangers transfer news – Kai Wagner

Clement won’t just have to plan for the rest of the season, but also ahead to the 2024/25 campaign, as several players are out of contract.

Ryan Jack, Borna Barisic and John Lundstram are the key first team players who have just a few more months left on their deals and big decisions will need to be made sooner rather than later.

According to the Daily Record, the Light Blues have scouted two defenders recently – left backs Fredrik Oppegard and Kai Wagner – who play for PSV Eindhoven and Philadelphia Union respectively.

Oppegard is the younger of the two and the more inexperienced, yet he perhaps has the higher ceiling with regard to the potential to secure the club a solid profit in the future.

Wagner, on the other hand, has much more experience than the young Norwegian, and more crucially, will be available to sign for nothing as his contract expires in the New Year and this may be the more appealing option for Clement at this stage.

With Barisic’s future at Rangers looking uncertain, the onus will be on Ridvan Yilmaz to firmly establish himself as a replacement for the Croatian.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way for the Turkish defender as he has seen opportunities limited during the current season, and he may not be the long-term option that many supporters felt when he joined last summer.

Ridvan Yilmaz’s statistics at Rangers

The 22-year-old arrived in a blaze of glory back in 2022 for a transfer fee in the region of £5m and big things were clearly expected of him.

After just five appearances during the opening stages of the 2022/23 campaign, Yilmaz suffered a hamstring injury which resulted in him missing the next 29 games and this seriously disrupted his ambitions of taking the left-back spot away from Barisic.

He did start the final five games of the Premiership season, which would have given him plenty of confidence heading into pre-season and the 2023/24 campaign.

Unfortunately, injury problems once again reared their head and it took until the start of September for the left-back to make his first appearance of the season – against Celtic at Ibrox.

Since then, Yilmaz has played only 12 times and missed out entirely on the Europa League squad, indicating that he wasn’t exactly trusted by Michael Beale.

So far this term, the former Besiktas starlet currently ranks fifth among his teammates for successful dribbles per game (0.9) while also ranking 15th for tackles per game (0.7) and despite ranking third for key passes per game (1.8), it is clear that Yilmaz doesn’t have the same attacking aptitude as Barisic.

Hopefully, he can secure a regular run of matches under Clement throughout the second half of the campaign, but making a move for Wagner, especially on a free transfer, makes perfect sense

Kai Wagner’s career statistics

The German began his career in his homeland, moving around clubs such as Wurzburger Kickers, SSV Ulm 1846 and Schalke reserves before an unlikely move to the MLS with Philadelphia presented itself in 2019.

It would be fair to say that the 26-year-old has taken his chance rather well, making a total of 170 appearances for the American side, scoring seven goals and registering 32 assists in the process, and this works out as a goal contribution every 4.4 matches.

The 5 foot 11 gem didn’t take long to showcase his talents in the MLS and was named an MLS All-Star in both 2021 and 2022, firmly establishing himself as one of the finest fullbacks in the league.

During the 2023 MLS season, Wagner was a reliable attacking outlet for Philadelphia, scoring once and grabbing eight assists across 29 matches.

He also shone when compared to his positional peers, ranking in the top 3% for assists (0.26) and the top 2% for shot-creating actions (3.76) per 90 across the previous 12 months.

It wasn’t just going forward where Wagner showed his class, as he also ranked highly when compared to his peers for the defensive side of his game too.

Over the past 12 months, the German defender ranked in the top 10% for interceptions (1.7) and the top 6% for blocks (1.73) per 90 and this clearly demonstrates that he is highly effective at both ends of the pitch.

Kai Watson, who runs the informative and engaging Rangers Journal blog, lavished praise on the defender, saying: “Wagner has a brilliant left foot and offers deliveries of similar quality to Barisic.”

With Barisic having been a key attacking threat up and down the left flank during his five-and-a-half seasons in Glasgow, it will be a shame to eventually see him depart the club.

In order to move forward into the future, however, Clement has got to plan ahead and this means bringing in players to replace those who could be on the verge of leaving.

Wagner has provided evidence that he is a defender who is both effective at both ends of the pitch and, as Watson puts it when analysing the 26-year-old amid the recent rumours, he could be an “absolute bargain on a free” if the Gers were to make their move for him in the coming days.

There are some other clubs keen on luring him away from America and, with this in mind, Clement must act sooner rather than later.

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