Meet Rıdvan Yılmaz, born on a sunny May day in the year 2001. At a ripe age of 23, he has seen more of the footballing world than most of us will in our dreary, trivial lives. In the land of belly dancers and kebabs, also known as Turkey, Yılmaz finds himself primarily playing as a left-back for Rangers. Hardly the height of a skyscraper at 5ft 8in (175cm), his weight is a respectable 10st 7lb (67kg), which is lighter than a deep-fried Mars bar, you might note. You can catch a glimpse of him running around in the number 3 jersey, if you have the time and inclination.
His football journey began in 2009 when Besiktas, in the Süper Lig of Turkey, took him as a trainee. One can only speculate the horrors he faced as he managed a single first-team appearance in his debut season of 2018-19. By 2019 - 2020, Yılmaz seemed to be warming up to the Turkish league, if making a scant six first team appearances counts as warming up in the world of football. In the subsequent 2020 - 2021 season, he raised the bar with 18 first-team appearances, even managing to score a goal. Guess he finally found the back of the net. In the following season, he had a run of 27 first team appearances with a staggering three goal tally-heady heights indeed!
But the fickle world of football transfers saw Yılmaz shipped off to Rangers in Scotland in July 2022 for a stellar windfall of 5.3 million of Her Majesty's pounds. His performance during the 2022 - 2023 season of his Scottish sojourn had him sprint on the field in nine first team league matches, with the 2023 - 2024 season seeing improvement as he made 26 appearances (one of which even resulted in a goal, would you believe?). For the ongoing 2024 - 2025 season, he has been sighted twice so far. A slow start, perhaps?
For those interested in following trophies, Yılmaz had three starts and a substitute appearance in the Scottish Cup 2023-2024, and two starts each in the Europa League 2023 - 2024 and Champions League Qualifiers 2024 - 2025 all for Rangers. Not quite a trophy magnet, but it's a start, isn't it?
