Glasgow Rangers youngster Ridvan Yilmaz has insisted he is not thinking of a return to Turkey and hopes to be a part of Michael Beale’s plans more moving forwards.
The defender has been speaking to NTV Spor in Turkey about life at Ibrox so far and the differences between Beale and his predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
The 22-year-old joined Rangers in a €4m deal from Beşiktaş last summer but barely featured for them last season, making just 15 appearances and 916 minutes in total across the campaign.
He was handed his chance to impress by Beale towards the end of the season, with the Rangers boss bringing him in for the last five games of the season as a replacement for Borna Barisic at left-back.
Yilmaz managed to impress in those games, with Rangers winning four of the five games he played in and him bagging two assists in the 3-0 win over St Mirren at the end of the campaign.
With less than 1000 minutes under his belt there has been talk that he could depart Ibrox and move back to Turkey, but he insists that is not the case.
“At the moment, I don’t have any plans to return to Turkey,” he said.
“I shouldn’t talk too much, but I really don’t think I will return to Turkey right now. When the time comes, I would like to leave football at Beşiktaş.
“The physical quality is higher in Scotland compared to the Turkish League. They are physically stronger than us.
“Both the training and the matches are very tough. The strength is there at a very different level.
“We were more like friends with Giovanni van Bronckhorst. He used to joke with us. Now our coach Michael Beale is a little more serious. Thanks to him, he gave me a chance in the last 5 games.”
