Rangers announce first major summer player departure | OneFootball

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has confirmed Rangers’ formal first player departure of the summer, with many more to follow as the Ibrox side licks its wounds of yet another Old Firm loss.

The boss was in his usual ‘eccentric’ form before and after the match, and he revealed officially that Croatian defender Borna Barisic has left the club, and didn’t come into contemplation for the cup final, ergo there was no place for him as a departing player.

It marks the end of 6 Rangers years for Barisic, who is expected to sign for Turkish side Trabzonspor imminently, with the Super Lig team on his trail for months, and finally getting their man it appears under freedom of contract.

While fellow departing Rangers star John Lundstram is also expected to sign for the Trabzon-based side, that one remains unconfirmed as yet, with his bizarre appearance as a cameo at Hampden very much fresh in the memory.

Clement is in the throes of his rebuild, having announced the arrival of Brazil’s Jefte over the weekend, a left back who immediately replaces Barisic and is seen as a very similar type of player albeit a lot, lot younger.

The club has high hopes for the young man, 20, and have spent around £700,000 on him (there’s a bizarre story around that one which we’ll get to in a later entry) as serious competition for established number one Ridvan Yilmaz who is expected to entrench himself as Rangers’ LB next season.

Jefte’s arrival will help push him on towards that.

But it’s the end for Barisic, who has been exiting emotionally for about two and a half years, his heart not in it since early 2022.

We will have a full ‘eulogy’ on the Croat’s departure when it is finalised but for now we know he’s going and that brings about the end of his 6-year stay in Govan.