Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has admitted that he is “surprised” James Tavernier is still at Ibrox after six years in Glasgow, confessing he thinks that the club “means so much” to the Englishman.
Tavernier has been linked with a return to England several times over the years since moving to Rangers as part of Warburton’s initial influx of signings but has never looked like coming close to deciding to move on.
“I thought he might have been taken by now. I’m a bit surprised by his longevity as a Rangers player — I thought he might have gone south,” Warburton told The Times.
“But in terms of his character and that longevity at Ibrox, Tav was a big admirer of Lee Wallace and the way Lee conducted himself as Rangers captain. Tav learned a lot from Lee on and off the pitch and I think Tav has taken on that responsibility himself towards Rangers. When they made him captain you could see what it meant to Tav. He knew the responsibility and embraced it.
“He hasn’t yet gone back to England so you think: why not? I think, with Tav, he might be a victim of the fact that, in most games, Rangers will dominate the football, maybe to a point of 70 per cent possession, so he does so much of his good work rampaging forward.
“English Premier League clubs who have looked at him are probably asking: will he do the job for us defensively? That question will certainly have been asked, and it’s difficult for Tav, because he plays in a team that dominates games.
“He’s a top guy, a top personality. I think Rangers FC means so much to James Tavernier.”
Tavernier has gone on to write his name into the fabric of the club, playing a massive part in last season’s title success and helping the Gers smash a number of records.
With the emergence of Nathan Patterson, Tavernier faces a serious challenge for his place in the Rangers side as the Scotland international looks to cement his place in the Rangers starting XI.
His prodigious attacking stats mean that Tavernier is indispensable for Rangers just now and whenever Tavernier does move on, he’s going to be incredibly hard to replace – no matter how good Patterson might be.
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