ian1964

Gio said maybe, there is also a match tomorrow versus Queens Park

Post lifted from FF: Thirteen years now I’ve been following Turkish football as an Ankaragücü fan. In that time I’ve seen some talented players coming though especially of late with the likes of Yusuf Yazici who Trabzonspor sold to Lille for £15 Million, Abdulkadir Omer also from Trabzonspor who is arguably more talented but had injury problems, Altay Bayindr from Ankaragücü who is now with Fenerbahce and worth over £20 million, and the best of them all Arda Gurler who is one of the best young players I’ve ever seen. He was playing with Fenerbahce last season aged only 16. Ridvan Yilmaz has the potential to be a top player, I would say only Arda has a higher ceiling. When I first saw him play I thought he was a midfielder because he played so high up the pitch and was so comfortable on the ball. He can also finish when he gets into the box as he is very calm and confident and doesn’t just blast the ball hoping for the best. People have questioned his height, but to be honest it’s never something I’ve noticed on the pitch because it’s not something that has been an area of weakness and he is very competitive. The way Geo sets the team up especially at home Ridvan is the perfect player to play at Left back. With the amount of possession we have Ridvan rarely gives the ball away, can pick a pass and his link up play with Kent should be very entertaining. If we ever went with 3 at the back he can play in that 5 on the left hand side as Besiktas played with 3 at the back. In the games I’ve saw him his crossing has been good too, but I know some of the Besiktas fans I spoke with said it’s an area he is working on and has been improving as it can be inconsistent. Defensively too he has a good football brain and although it’s an area of improvement he still has been playing at a consistent level on that side of the pitch. The Turkish League isn’t as physical as the SPL but it’s not far off especially in the derby matches where it can be pretty intense. He should be able to adapt to that but it will take a bit of time. Something I think Rangers have done very well with in recent years is signing likeable players with good characters that adds to the dressing room togetherness. Ridvan is a very nice young guy with a lot of integrity. He gives his parents his salary and takes pocket money for himself, he grew up a Besiktas fan and has been with them since he was a child. He told Besiktas he wanted to leave just now in order to allow them to receive a good transfer fee and tonight he gave an interview with the media where he had tears speaking about saying goodbye to the club he loved. I think most of use could relate to that if we ever played with Rangers and the day came where we were moving on (they would have to force me out lol). Turkish football is notorious for not giving opportunities to young players and a lot of youngsters aged 20-23 have hardly played any games. The Istanbul teams are even worse, but the financial climate has saw all of them starting to bring more players though. The fact that Ridvan broke into Besiktas team at 18 speaks volumes, and even more impressive is that he broke into national team at 20. You don’t tend to get players at that age playing regularly in Turkey. There will still be areas of growth for Ridvan and he will need time to come in and get used to a new culture, style of football, language etc, but he has come from another club where the fans demand success and draws aren’t good enough. He will be used to the pressure and atmosphere and I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on. You also have to consider he has been impressive playing in Besiktas teams who aren’t at the level they used to be. Turkey has a lot of talent coming through and hopefully we look at the market in the future. I’ve recommended 2 young players to Ross Wilson and Ross Mulholland who are aged 16-17 and have big futures. Whether they look at them is up to them, it looks like their scouting strategy is getting better and we are in a good place. And I say that as someone who has questioned some of the transfer decisions in the past, maybe it was a case of working in an extremely difficult market with no money. Roll on the new season and hopefully Ridvan and the team have a successful one!

Beşiktaş Futbol A.Ş. reported to the Public Disclosure Platform that negotiations have started with Glasgow Rangers club for the transfer of one of our professional football players, Rıdvan Yılmaz.

Beşiktaş and Glasgow Rangers reached an agreement for the transfer of Rıdvan Yılmaz. Glasgow Rangers are discussing contract details with Rıdvan Yılmaz.