Rangers moved into the Croatian market over the summer.
Rangers’ title hopes may be over after failing to beat St Johnstone on Saturday afternoon, just hours before Celtic beat Kilmarnock to move eight points clear at the top of the table.
The Gers must now look to at least secure second place whilst looking to pounce on any Celtic slip-up, but they should also begin planning for the summer transfer window whilst reflecting on the two transfer windows under Steven Gerrard.
There have been major successes in Allan McGregor, Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent, but also a host of disappointments, with Steven Davis, Kyle Lafferty and Umar Sadiq failing to shine.
Intriguingly, director of football Mark Allen looked to the Croatian market in the summer, signing defender Nikola Katic from Slaven Belupo before raiding Osijek for Borna Barisic and Eros Grezda.
Allen suggested in July that Rangers would look to more players in the Croatian market, but that may have changed after the lack of success from the three signings so far.
Katic has shown promise but has been overlooked in favour of loanee Joe Worrall, with Gerrard seemingly wanting to develop him gradually as he develops at Ibrox.
Barisic didn’t impress against St Johnstone, and he has been somewhat inconsistent. The left back’s quality into the box has been hit and miss, whilst Gerrard has appeared a little frustrated with him picking up knocks and niggles so regularly.
Winger Grezda has been a total flop so far, arriving injured before picking up another knock in December, meaning he hasn’t played at all for nearly two months now, and the Albanian didn’t really show his pace and quality in the final third anyway.
Rangers haven’t got any sort of return on their investment on the trio yet, and whilst they will almost certainly be given at least until pre-season to prove their worth, the Gers and Allen may need to re-evaluate their pursuit of players in Croatia.
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