BORNASCT AGAIN!
Brilliant Barisic shows Rangers fans there is life after Calvin
BORNA BARISIC served a most timely reminder that Rangers had a quality, international left-back worth a fair few million pounds long before Calvin Bassey entered the building. Bassey is on the brink of an exit, two years after his cut-price signing from Leicester City.
The 22-year-old’s non-appearance yesterday bore all the hallmarks of an imminent transfer.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst conceded as much after a pleasing friendly outing in which 22 of his squad enjoyed an outing and new loan signing Malik Tillman from Bayern Munich watched from the stand.
And what a stunning piece of business this is for Rangers with the details of Bassey’s transfer being thrashed out and the destination to be revealed, with Ajax in pole position.
It confirms that the recruitment strategy implemented at Ibrox a few years ago is paying considerably better dividends than the promenade arcades a few streets away from Bloomfield Road.
Van Bronckhorst had spoken of his desire to continue developing Bassey at Ibrox for at least one more season.
But the money seems too good to reject, with two years remaining on the power-packed defender’s deal.
Van Bronckhorst said: ‘We knew about the interest in Calvin because he played really well but sometimes you expect it might be another year away.
‘But I think we are well prepared for anything that can happen. You always have to be ready because you just never know when you’re going to lose players.
‘You have to have your list ready for possible players coming in. For Calvin, it’s a nice move, and for the club as well, business-wise, it’s what you want to do.
‘We’ve done really well so far in getting new players in the positions where others have left, so I’m really happy with that.’
Without Bassey, Rangers coasted to victory in the sunshine here in the first meeting between the clubs since Steven Davis scored twice in a 2-0 win 11 years ago.
The thousands of Rangers fans making the pilgrimage on Glasgow Fair weekend know everything about the value of the Northern Ireland veteran to their club.
The only new boy in the starting side, striker Antonio Colak, was the man they wanted to see off to a scoring flyer.
An offside flag denied him that very platform after he cleverly tucked home a James Tavernier cross from eight yards on the half hour. Colak had veteran centre-half Richard Keogh at his back trying to limit the effectiveness of his link play but signs were encouraging.
With Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe still unavailable, Colak lasted the longest before Glenn Middleton replaced him late on.
Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo and John Souttar joined the action just after the hour but it was Bassey’s absence that spoke volumes.
It says much about the Nigerian’s phenomenal impact on the Europa League final run and Scottish Cup success that it’s been a while since Croatian international Barisic was held in anything like similar esteem.
A huge fans’ favourite and target for Roma only two years ago, Barisic, 29, was restored to leftback as James Sands partnered Connor Goldson at centre-half.
The sight of Barisic going down in a heap following a late challenge four minutes before the break was a scare for the Rangers bench.
He soldiered on but for most of the contest had the toughest task set by Blackpool to deal with — keeping tabs on Josh Bowler.
The winger is a target for Bournemouth and his menace down the flank, complete with Jack Grealish-style low shin pads, was the biggest threat to the visiting back four.
Bowler’s dash on the break, after Ryan Kent coughed up possession, led to Sonny Carey going clear on Allan McGregor in only four minutes — only for the midfielder to sky his attempt.
Barisic well and truly turned the tables on Bowler six minutes into the second half.
Terrific determination saw him pinch the ball from Bowler before sending a curling effort beyond the reach of Dan Grimshaw with his weaker right foot.
All of a sudden the Rangers fans reached into the archives for their ‘Karma Chameleon’ Borna Barisic chant.
Grimshaw did well to keep track and get a strong palm to a 22-yard Kent dipper, diverting over for a corner. Van Bronckhorst felt comfortable at that point to make seven changes at once.
The spark provided by Matondo was impressive, the ex-Schalke winger rippling the side-netting after showing evasive skills.
Terrific training ground fine-tuning served up a set-piece chance from a Davis free-kick.
Souttar took Nikola Katic’s knockdown first time but Grimshaw blocked well on his line.
From young Charlie McCann, a first goal for the club. A clearance from a Davis corner landed at McCann’s right foot and a sweet first-time strike was steered through a crowded area.
Blackpool subs Jerry Yates and Beryly Lubala fashioned a lovely one-two, with the later gaining a consolation goal two minutes from time with a tidy low finish.
After the lights went out last week in Portugal when the friendly with Sunderland was abandoned at the interval, this was much more revealing for Van Bronckhorst.
The Rangers manager said: ‘We played really well, it felt like we played at home with the amazing support we had here!
‘It gives you so much extra energy and we played with a much better pace than we did in Portugal, we looked much fitter.’
Rangers step up to Premier League trials next with West Ham and Tottenham due at Ibrox this week.