Philippe Clement may be happy to show Borna Barisic the Rangers exit door as transfer news emerges

Rangers senior defender Borna Barisic is now facing an uncertain future at Ibrox after recent transfer news and manager Philippe Clement certainly won’t stand in his way in January.

The full-back has missed the Light Blues’ last two matches and has only managed 12 minutes under the Belgian, having picked up an injury during Clement’s debut against Hibernian.

The Croatian may well have quit Ibrox during the latter stages of the summer transfer window after there was plenty of speculation 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 but that could well be fast-tracked to January after yet another news emerged regarding a new interested party.

According to Italian news outlet Calciomercato (2 November), Premier League side Aston Villa are one of a number of clubs who want to sign the Croatian in the winter.

The Italian newspaper reported on its website [02 November], that the Croatian international is an attractive proposition at very little cost with his contract expiring.

Monchi recently moved to Villa Park from Sevilla and is said to like the defender for his new club, with Roma also said to be interested in a move.

And given Barisic’s decreasing minutes when he returns from injury, with Ridvan Yilmaz now shooting up the left-back pecking order, that could well force the Croatian to consider his future.

Barisic has reached his peak at Ibrox and has been very good for the most part, but over the last 18 months he has struggled for form and now it’s time to look elsewhere.

It remains to be seen whether Clement will be given sufficient funds to strengthen the squad in January but Rangers could well receive a healthy windfall for Barisic’s services if the likes of Aston Villa and Roma follow up their interest.

And that could well mean Clement forces Barisic’s exit in order to fund his own Ibrox revolution.

Considering Barisic’s current contract is due to expire in the summer, there is no time better than now to find out if the Gers need to dip back into the market in the winter or if his replacement is already at the club.