Rangers must finally unleash “powerful” 20 y/o dynamo to replace Barisic

Glasgow Rangers return to Europa League action this evening as they take on Sparta Prague away from Ibrox in their third group stage outing.

The Light Blues have one win and one defeat from their opening two matches in the competition and will now be hoping to strengthen their hopes of progressing through to the knockout stages.

New head coach Philippe Clement made his dugout debut against Hibernian last weekend and enjoyed a terrific afternoon as his side ran out 4-0 winners on home soil in the Scottish Premiership.

The Belgian tactician will now manage in Europe for the first time since his move to the Scottish giants and will be hoping for more success than Michael Beale and Steven Davis, who took interim charge against Aris, managed earlier this season.

Rangers were dumped out of the Champions League after a 7-3 aggregate play-off defeat to PSV under Beale, whilst they lost their most recent Europa League clash in a 2-1 defeat to Aris under Davis.

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Clement, however, looks set to be without a senior left-back available for selection after a double injury blow this week ahead of the trip to Prague.

Borna Barisic was forced to leave the field during the opening stages of the win over Hibs and it has been reported that the Croatia international was not in training on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dujon Sterling, who has filled in at left-back at times this season, was also absent and that suggests that the summer signing from Chelsea will not be in contention to feature.

Ridvan Yilmaz came on to replace Barisic last weekend but the Turkey international is not eligible for selection this evening as he was not registered as part of the club’s Europa League squad.

There are no other fresh injury issues that have been disclosed by the manager and this means that left-back may be the only enforced change for the Belgian chief.

Whilst Clement could look to use a central defender or an experienced midfielder in that position to fill a gap for this game, the Belgian boss must finally unleash academy starlet Adam Devine from the start.

Adam Devine’s statistics for Rangers

The 20-year-old dynamo has racked up 11 first-team appearances for the Light Blues since he made his debut for the club under Giovanni van Bronckhorst towards the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

Devine started one of his two Premiership outings under the Dutchman during the top six split matches of that season and struggled to catch the eye.

He lost 62% of his individual duels and was dribbled past one time per game on average, along with 1.5 tackles and interceptions and zero key passes per clash.

These statistics show that the Scotland U21 international was bullied by opposition players as they found it far too easy to get the better of him, which is not a trait you want in a defender as the manager should want his backline to be strong and able to keep the other team at bay.

The talented youngster, who is a right-back by trade, was then provided with an opportunity to play under Beale as Barisic and Yilmaz were both unavailable after the break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Devine made six Premiership appearances and started three games for the former Gers head coach throughout the 2022/23 league campaign.

The “powerful” runner – as he was dubbed by former reporter – and now Rangers content executive – Craig Vickers – improved upon the performances he displayed under van Bronckhorst the previous season.

In those six outings, the dynamic ace created two ‘big chances’ for his teammates and was only dribbled past 0.3 times per game, to go along with a duel success rate of 55%.

These statistics show that Devine learned from his first couple of appearances at first-team level and was able to give a better account of himself under Beale, as he showcased his ability to make an impact at both ends of the pitch.

The academy graduate carved open the opposition to create huge opportunities for others and maintained a strong duel success rate, which shows that the other teams were not able to muscle him out of the way as easily as before.

Borna Barisic’s statistics this season

Rangers’ 30-year-old left-back has been the first-choice in his position so far this season and has started eight matches across the Premiership and the Europa League.

However, he will not be named in the starting XI this evening as Clement has already confirmed that the Croatian ace is expected to return to action next week, which also rules him out of the game against Hearts on Sunday.

The experienced defender has been solid enough at league level for the Light Blues. Barisic has created one ‘big chance’ in six Premiership starts and came out on top in 55% of his physical contests.

He has also been dribbled past 0.4 times per game and this suggests that Devine’s performances last term were on a par with the Croatia international’s this season.

They are both defenders who are rarely dribbled past and win the majority of their duels, whilst the 20-year-old ace actually created ‘big chances’ for his teammates at a more impressive rate.

Therefore, Rangers may not be significantly weakened by using Devine at left-back in place of the injured Barisic and that is why Clement must finally unleash him from the start this evening, for the first time this term.

Offering an opportunity to a promising academy graduate, who has proven – with his displays last season – that he has the quality to play at senior level, instead of playing a player out of position could be a shrewd move by Clement to excite supporters.

Fans may like to see that the manager is willing to trust and rely on youth when the chance is there to do so, rather than blocking their pathway by moving a senior star out of their usual slot.