IT is never wise to overstay your welcome.

Borna Barisic may well have harboured hopes of having his contract with Rangers extended this summer when his current deal expires given his deep affection for and lengthy association with the club he joined from Osijek for £2.2m six years ago.

Yet, with Ridvan Yilmaz finally justifying the £3.4m fee which it took to secure his services back in 2022 and firmly establishing himself as first choice left back at Ibrox, Barisic has found competitive game time hard to come by in recent months.

When he has featured, the Croatian internationalist, whose lung-bursting overlaps and penetrating deliveries into the opposition box had been potent weapons, has struggled to hit the heights which he did during his early seasons in Scotland.  

The defender has been widely tipped to join Trabzonspor in Turkey on a free transfer in the close season and it is probably best all round, for both him personally and for Rangers, that he does so.

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Many Bears have felt for some time now that the 31-year-old, who has always been better offensively than he is defensively, is past his prime, is lacking his old dynamism, and should move on elsewhere to further his career. 

The 35-times capped player, though, has many more years of football at a decent level ahead of him and will doubtless find a change of scene to be rejuvenating, liberating even.

The Herald: His manager Philippe Clement, meanwhile, will doubtless be eager to bring in his own men and really stamp his identity on his team. Another summer of incoming and outgoings seems a certainty regardless of what transpires in the cinch Premiership and Scottish Gas Scottish Cup in the coming weeks.  

Barisic, however, will leave with the best wishes of Rangers supporters when he departs. He has been a fine servant for them and contributed greatly to their revival after years in the doldrums. He will be remembered fondly.

When he arrived, the Govan giants had gone seven long years without lifting a major honour. He has League Cup, Premiership and Scottish Cup winners’ medals to his name now.

Only Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent featured more than him as Steven Gerrard’s men went undefeated in the league in the 2020/21 campaign and lifted the Scottish title for the first time since 2011.

Gerrard, the manager who brought him in, regularly had to address speculation linking the player with some of the biggest clubs in Europe during the early years of his tenure so inspired were his signing’s displays.

“We’re not surprised if there is any interest in Borna,” he said. “Of course we’re not because he has been a consistent performer for us for some time now.”

After his curling cross had set up Alfredo Morelos for a goal against Porto in the Estadio do Drago in the Europa League in 2019, Gerrard did not baulk at comparisons with his old team mate David Beckham.  

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“The cross from Borna and the finish from Alfredo were both world class bits of play,” he said. “I’ve read a quote saying the cross was Beckhamesque and I’m sure David would have been proud of that one. It’s satisfying for him. He knows he’s that level of player. He’s robust and strong.”

Barisic helped Rangers to re-establish themselves as a force in Europe not just Scotland under Gerrard. He scored twice from the penalty spot in a 4-3 triumph over Royal Antwerp in Belgium to ensure his side progressed to the last 16 of the Europa League in 2021.

When the Liverpool and England icon left for Aston Villa and Giovanni van Bronckhorst – somebody who knew a thing or two about the unique demands of playing in his position - took over he retained his place. He was an integral member of the team which reached the Europa League final in Seville two years ago.

The Herald: Quality full-backs are difficult to find and clubs have to pay top dollar to get them. The recruitment team at Rangers will be doing well to unearth an affordable player who can deputise for Yilmaz in the coming months. But it is time for Barisic to exit and allow somebody else to try and cope with the high expectations of their supporters.

His Man of the Match-winning performance in the 2-1 victory over Celtic at Parkhead in the December of 2019 will never be forgotten by any of the away supporters who were in attendance that day. He set up Ryan Kent and Nikola Katic for their goals.

He may be, with Yilmaz having been sidelined since the international break back in March, in the visitors’ starting line-up at the same venue a week tomorrow in a match that is rightly being billed as a title decider. What would Clement give for a repeat display?