Disappointed Tavernier facing Turkish transfer headache

The Turkish transfer window looks unlikely to provide James Tavernier with an escape from his Ibrox hell.

Without any foundation beyond a speculative tweet from Fabrizio Romano, Scottish media outlets have been running with tales of how Trabzonspor and Besiktas are battling it out to sign Phil Clement’s captain.

It seems that Trabzonspor developed a blind spot over the summer for Ibrox flops but recent comments about John Lundstram suggest that they won’t be duped again.

Almost as soon as Giovanni van Bronckhorst was appointed as manager of Besiktas he was being linked with a swoop for his former penalty taker but that link seems as genuine as Steven Gerrard’s interest in taking Tav to Al Ettifaq.

With just over a day to go before the Turkish transfer window closes it seems certain that Tavernier will be leading out the serial losers against Dundee United on Sunday.

Bracing their army of readers for bad news the Daily Record reports:

Besiktas vice president Huseyin Yucel insists the club are focussed on offloading players before the deadline day amid links with a move for Rangers captain James Tavernier.

The clock is ticking for sides in Turkey to get a deals over the line before the close of the window on Friday – with reports suggesting that former Ibrox boss Gio van Bronckhorst was keen on taking the right-back to Istanbul before the deadline with Trabzonspor also holding an interest throughout the summer. A potential move for the Rangers ‘ Hall of Famer was dealt a hammerblow after the Turkish Football Federation opted to snub a bid from Besiktas, Trabzonspor and Galatasaray to have the number of foreign players increased from 12 to 14.

Both Trabzonspor and Van Bronckhorst’s side have maxed out their list for Super Lig games – and Tucel revealed to NTV Spor they were only locked in talks to move players on at this stage. Asked about last-minute movement in the market he appeared to concede a move for Tavernier was off the cards.

There was no mention of Tavernier in the quotes from the Besiktas vice-president, the transfer chat has been manufactured by the Record and their Turkish equivalent, exactly the same scenario was played out for the Saudi interest in the former Wigan utility man.

Once tomorrow’s Turkish transfer deadline closes Tavernier faces the best part of four months being abused by Ibrox fans before the possibility of an escape when the January transfer window opens.