Philippe Clement could sanction Rangers exits for Borna Barisic or Ridvan Yilmaz as Fredrik Oppegard transfer news emerges

The Gers announced the signing of the 21-year-old until the end of the season on Thursday (28 December) as he looks to help Philippe Clement’s side battle it out for more major honours in the second half of the season.

According to the Daily Record, reporting on 28 December, the Light Blues put themselves in the box seat for the Portuguese striker’s signing after paying a five-figure sum towards his weekly wage.

The Scottish news outlet shared on 28 December that both Rangers and Celtic had been offered the chance to sign the Wolves striker, but the substantial payment took him to Ibrox.

However, it is now also reported that the Gers are already actively pursuing a left-back for transfer number two ahead of the window, and have scouted PSV Eindhoven defender Fredrik Oppegard.

Oppegard spent his formative days in the academies of KFUM and Valerenga in his homeland before joining PSV in 2019 and making his senior debut for them as an 18-year-old in 2020

He has only played sporadically since then for the Eredivisie giants and was loaned to Go Ahead Eagles last season, for whom he made eight appearances.

Despite his limited opportunities in the PSV first team, Oppegard is still highly regarded inside the club, making him an attractive proposition for Rangers.

It seems as though Clement and new transfer chief Nils Koppen are searching for a more youthful look at left-back which spells danger for senior players Barisic and Yilmaz.

Borna Barisic has continued to be the main man for Clement at left-back but his contract is up in the coming June and he’s long been linked with a move away from Glasgow.

The same can be said for Yilmaz who is once again attracting interest from his native Turkey.

Turkish news outlet Haberturk shared on Monday (18 December) that the idea of Galatasaray signing the Ibrox defender in January is “increasing day-by-day” behind the scenes at the club.

Galatasaray are desperate to sign a local left-back and midfielder and are willing to ship out Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele and RB Leipzig defender Angelino to secure those signings.

Yilmaz has emerged as a strong candidate for the Turkish giants with the report claiming that the idea of signing the Ibrox defender with the option to buy is “gaining more and more weight” at the club.

The Turk joined from Besiktas last summer in a deal worth around £3.5m, but due to his struggles with injuries in his debut campaign, he largely found himself behind Borna Barisic in the pecking order.

It’s unlikely that Rangers are going to be too keen to offload Yilmaz unless they receive a reasonable fee to allow him to make the return to Turkey.

However, given they have already identified a possible candidate long-term for the left-back spot at Ibrox, it certainly seems as if Clement is willing to sanction the sales of Yilmaz or Barisic, and Yilmaz seems the more likely to be the one shown the Auchenhowie exit door.

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