Glasgow Rangers faced a fight to keep James Tavernier in the summer, and he has been excellent so far this season.
While he was by no means the worst performer on the pitch in the League Cup semi-final this weekend, it appeared that no player may have disappointed the Rangers fans at Hampden Park as much as James Tavernier did.
Tavernier has enjoyed arguably the best spell of his Ibrox career this term. His form has been superb and he has clearly relished the opportunity to captain Steven Gerrard’s side.
Unfortunately, he endured a miserable afternoon on Sunday as Rangers were knocked out by Aberdeen. And he has certainly come in for a lot of criticism for his performance.
But with the dust now settling, perhaps there is one small positive that the Gers can take from the game amid reports from the Evening Express that West Brom had sent a scout to the semi-final.
The report suggests that the Baggies representative was there to watch Scott McKenna as Darren Moore seemingly looks to strengthen his defensive options in January. But given events from the summer, it would probably be a surprise if the scout did not have one eye on Tavernier.
Sky Sports reported in August that West Brom bid £3 million for the right-back. However, Rangers rejected the offer and Tavernier has since signed another contract at Ibrox.
With right-back arguably a position that the Championship side still look vulnerable in, it would make sense if Tavernier remained in their thinking, even if he was not considered a current target.
But if West Brom consider Tavernier’s semi-final display, it seems much less likely that they will be keen to reignite their interest heading in January.
And given what Rangers fans know the Englishman can do – and does do in most of the games he plays – his rare poor showing could actually prove to have one upside for the Gers.
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