Rangers brought left back Borna Barisic to Ibrox this summer.
Rangers fans have been encouraged by new signing Borna Barisic’s start to life at Ibrox – and it seems that he’s making an impression back in Croatia too.
Whilst the Gers largely focused on signing English or Scottish players this summer, they did also become prolific in the Croatian market, landing three players from Croatia’s top flight.
Osijek duo Barisic and Eros Grezda arrived alongside Slaven Belupo defender Nikola Katic all arrived, and Barisic is now making an impact for club and country.
The 25-year-old left back impressed Rangers enough in two Europa League game against Osijek to tempt them into signing him, and he has already shown his quality with some superb attacking play.
That early form for Rangers earned him a call-up to the Croatian side for the first international break of the season, and he started against Portugal on Thursday night.
Now, Goal Croatia have praised Barisic for his performance in that game, suggesting that he played with confidence and was the best of their relatively new faces, ahead of Marko Livaja, Ivan Santini, Antonio Milic and Matej Mitrovic.
The assessment of Barisic’s display is that he could solve a problem position for Croatia, as they have had left back problems for some time, with Barisic now seemingly ahead of Josip Pivaric or even Milic to start under Zlatko Dalic.
Whilst Croatia have been blessed at right back in recent years with Darijo Srna and Sime Vrsaljko, that hasn’t been the case at left back, with a number of players used there.
Ivan Strinic played there at this summer’s World Cup but has now put his career on hold due to a heart problem, and Barisic looks to be the favourite to replace him, with Rangers no doubt believing that his value can only rise the more he plays for a top nation like Croatia.
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