Van Bronckhorst expects £5m Yilmaz deal to be last piece of transfer business
fits the profile of an up-and-coming player of pedigree with the potential for a big sell-on fee such as the £20million-plus which took Calvin Bassey to Ajax this month.
‘The player who will come in is definitely a good player and a player, hopefully, we can develop the same way as the young players we are getting in,’ stated Van Bronckhorst.
‘Calvin is a good example, Nathan Patterson as well. The new player will be also in that age range.’
Despite losing 2-1 at home to Tottenham for the Walter Tull Memorial Cup at Ibrox — with a Harry Kane brace overcoming a first-half goal from Antonio Colak — Van Bronckhorst has reported himself happy with the state of play in the build-up to the new season and hopes yesterday’s experience will stand his players in good stead for a tilt at qualifying for the Champions League.
‘It is a different moment because, when I came in, we had only one session before playing Sparta Prague,’ said Van Bronckhorst, who has arranged a friendly against Queen’s Park today.
‘Now, we have a longer period with the team together and train a little bit more.
‘I am really happy because we have played against a lot of good opposition — last Tuesday against West Ham and now against Spurs, who are a top-four team.
‘I like to play against this quality of opposition. You can see at times we played very well, so, hopefully, we will do so when we face big teams in Europe this season.
‘We want to make sure we develop ourselves in the way we press and the way we attack. I think we used this game to work on it against a very good opponent, quality wise. For me, the result was not that important.
‘We could have been very defensive and played 5-4-1 and wait for the moment to attack, but I wanted to play the way we normally play, to have the same movement we always have when we play against a big opponent.
‘I think, that way, you get stronger. As you saw, you have less time on the ball, you have to think quicker and that is a very good environment to develop yourself as a player and as a team.
‘It was good for my defence to play against these quality players because, in August, we will hopefully be in the group stages in the Champions League.
‘Kane and Son are in the top five, top six strikers in the world. Not only in attack but in transition moment with the speed that they have.
‘You see they were appreciated by the Rangers fans because they see the quality that they have.
They applauded them as well.’