Borna Barisic isn’t being fully utilised at Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers, according to his former manager.
Steven Gerrard has been accused of not making the most of one Rangers player.
Borna Barisic joined the Gers for £2.2 million last summer [The Record] and has had an okay first season at Ibrox – only okay.
Davor Rupnik used to manage Osijek, the team from whom Rangers signed the Croatian left-back.
Rupnik considers himself a mentor to the 26-year-old and although he admits that Gerrard has taken him on a level, he still claims that there’s much more to Barisic – including a Lionel Messi-type left peg.
“I’ve known him for years – in fact, I actually persuaded him not to give up on football when he injured his knee when he was just a kid,” he told The Scottish Sun.
“His reward for not quitting that day was a transfer to Rangers in the summer. Steven Gerrard has made a lot of progress with him, but he’s not using his skills properly.
“Many people don’t know he is a superb free kick and set piece taker. He has a left foot like Lionel Messi.”
Barisic, who has six caps for Croatia, was injured for the light Blues 2-1 defeat at Celtic on Sunday.
He is yet to score under Gerrard but he has set up four goals across all competitions.
The former Osijek star hasn’t set the Scottish Premiership alight, but there are signs that Gerrard might’ve signed a very good player and it’ll be interesting to see how he develops at Ibrox as time goes on.
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