There is one downside to being a 21-year-old who has just made a big transfer, particularly when it is to a club as demanding as Rangers.
At a guaranteed price of £3.4million ($3.9m), Ridvan Yilmaz was the most expensive piece of business Rangers did, not just in that summer window, but for two years. It created immediate sky-high expectations, despite the fact he had played just one full season of football, and when they were not immediately met, discontent started to brew.
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The Turkey international was signed to add tactical diversity to the team and to become another asset they could sell on in the coming years, hence the five-year deal. He was a different profile to Borna Barisic and Calvin Bassey, whose sale had made this position one of the priorities.
Barisic’s form had been up and down last season and in Yilmaz the club saw a direct style of full-back who could drive forward and arrive in the box late, to match James Tavernier on the right flank.
But, after enduring a nervy debut at home to Kilmarnock, his only other starts in the two and a half months since had been in the League Cup against Queen of the South and Dundee.
He impressed in both games but there has still been an itch to see Yilmaz in a top-level game. That came on Wednesday away to Napoli and, after overcoming a difficult 10-minute spell once the Italians had gone 2-0 up, he was the most threatening player for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
It is a difficult dilemma for the Rangers manager as to how he transitions Yilmaz into the team, as he wasn’t signed for that money to sit on the bench. The other complication is that Barisic, despite feeling the wrath of the crowd at times, has been one of Rangers’ most consistent players this season.
First game at my new home IBROX is amazing. Perfect finish with +3 points. Thank you for all the support at my 1st home game. pic.twitter.com/MLKFKudQN5
— Rıdvan Yılmaz (@ridvan_yilmaz2) August 6, 2022
Yet this could be the week Yilmaz has the chance to make the position his own. Arriving from Turkey after just one season at Besiktas, there was an appreciation that he may need time before he could show his quality.
At 5ft 7ins (170.2cm), size is not on his side but, then again, it never has been. As a 14-year-old at Besiktas, scouts and agents noticed that his shirt drowned him so much that he didn’t need shorts. Rangers accepted Yilmaz would need to bulk up so he was placed on a four-to-five week programme to help that process. Even now, he is working on his power and strength by doing sessions before and after training.
Yilmaz only had a year on his deal remaining in the summer, so there was heavy competition for his signature. Rangers had registered their interest early in the year but it looked like they could lose him at one point, ironically to their Europa League conquerors Eintracht Frankfurt.
Besiktas had agreed a price with Frankfurt in July but the Turkish club then moved the goalposts, causing the deal to collapse. The base fee had been higher than Rangers eventually paid and although Torino, Royal Antwerp and others all came in for him, he had his heart set on Glasgow.
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Settling in off the field has taken time, though. Yilmaz has a girlfriend back home in Istanbul, and he has been doing lessons to improve his English, but the stress that comes with coping with a new country should not be underestimated.
He is now fully settled and not struggling with homesickness, something that the player care team at Rangers are good at minimising. Yilmaz has appreciated that ever since three club representatives came to meet him in Barcelona to do the medical and the club tries to create a family network as opposed to foreign players feeling like they are just a number.
Yilmaz ended up having a good game against Napoli, but there were parts of his defensive game that he can clearly improve on.
The first issue he faced was knowing when to come out of his position. Just five minutes into the game, Tanguy Ndombele caused him a problem by taking up an advanced position in midfield. Yilmaz expected the ball to go wide to Matteo Politano but he raced across to get there too early.
Ndombele spun in behind and Giovanni Di Lorenzo instead played the ball inside to Giovanni Simeone, who spotted that there was now a big gap between Yilmaz and Ben Davies.
He was able to hook the ball round the corner and Napoli were in behind.
Here, he tries to get close to Politano but the Napoli winger knows Di Lorenzo is on his outside, and now in space due to Yilmaz leaving him unattended.
Yilmaz cannot get there quickly enough to intercept and the ball is played into the space behind him.
He recovers but he does not slow down quick enough as he approaches Di Lorenzo and the Italian right-back is able to skip inside him as Yilmaz goes to ground.
After Simeone’s quickfire double, Rangers were on the ropes for the next 10 minutes and Yilmaz did look shaky at times. Politano was able to cut inside twice and he had two bouncing balls that he didn’t deal with but he kept his intensity up and was able to impose himself on the game.
It is clear that Yilmaz has a trademark move he likes to perform: driving inside with the ball, which he did twice inside the first 20 minutes.
The big difference between him and Barisic is how he opens his body.
The main criticism of Barisic is that he closes the game on himself by taking his first touch back to where the ball came and not opening his hips. Yilmaz, however, opens up as soon as it is played to him.
He waited for an option and then drove through the gap before playing to James Sands. He wanted the return pass but the American swept the ball to the far right side instead.
There was plenty of space for Yilmaz to run through the centre of the pitch, and he was clearly frustrated that his team-mate hadn’t appreciated the opportunity.
In a brief cameo against St Mirren he did this on another two occasions as he chopped inside and dribbled diagonally before playing a nicely weighted pass with the outside of his foot into the attacker.
When receiving the ball he is very difficult to read and is able to escape cleverly. Here, he is able to spin around his opponent before trying to feed Antonio Colak.
And in this example, as Barisic feeds him the ball he spots a first-time pass is open inside and flicks the ball to Scott Arfield.
Rangers have become predictable domestically and teams are happy dealing with endless crosses as that is the main way they are trying to create. It is Barisic’s outstanding skill but Yilmaz prefers to link up, play one-twos and feed the ball into the striker’s feet, as he did here with Alfredo Morelos.
Yilmaz should have got his first Champions League assist for Rangers in the 66th minute against Napoli when he overlapped Ryan Kent for the second time in the half. As Morelos switches play he spots the space immediately and sprints to get around his winger.
The ball is played behind him but he slows himself…
He waits on Morleos to reset his run and lays it on a plate for him…
But the Colombian somehow fails to connect with the ball and Rangers see their chances of getting back into the game disappear.
Barisic took over a season to adjust when he came to Scotland from Croatian club Osijek. He has evolved from the player he was then but he could lose his place in the side which would be problematic for his World Cup hopes.
He is in a tussle with his namesake at Stuttgart, Borna Sosa, for the left-back spot and with his 30th birthday looming next month, he will know that he may not make another World Cup. In the summer there were several teams who were keen on signing him. No deal was done, but Rangers didn’t offer a new contract either.
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It may be that Yilmaz needs more time before he can overtake Barisic, but if he takes his chance and provides Rangers with a much-needed unpredictability then Van Bronckhorst will have a call to make. History suggests he will not shy away from it.
(Top photo: Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)