Besiktas sporting director Ceyhun Kazanci has opened up on allowing Ridvan Yilmaz to join Rangers - insisting he warned the full back it was too soon to leave the Turkish club.
The 21-year-old sealed a £5.5m move from Istanbul in the summer but has struggled to make any impact at Ibrox following the big-money move. Borna Barisic has remained Gio van Bronckhorst's first choice at left-back, while the Turkish international has made just three appearances since his move, with his most recent coming in the Premier Sports Cup victory over Queen of the South in August.
The transfer business at Ibrox has been thrown into the spotlight before the international break after a slump in form and, Yilmaz has been used as an example by Rangers critics of poor recruitment this summer having arrived in the most expensive deal of the window. Despite his lack of minutes in the Scottish Premiership and Champions League, the full-back has still been called up for Turkey's Nations League fixtures.
Ahead of the national side's clash with the Faroe Islands, Besiktas chief Kazanci was quizzed about the incoming and outgoing players at the club. He was put on the spot about allowing prospects like Yilmaz to leave.
He told Haber Turk : "We said it was too early for Ridvan Yilmaz, Serdar Saatçı and Emirhan İlkhan to go to Europe. I think they could have stayed another year.
"We allow players to go if they already have dreams. Hopefully they will be very successful in the end."
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