SOME won’t realise quite how good James Tavernier is until he’s gone.
A statement of varying delivery often banded around Rangers Twitter and the Ibrox concourse. For some, the captain will always be intrinsically linked to the failing sides he endured. Others still grow frustrated at a vulnerability to diagonal balls or the odd premature jump into tackles.
And of course, he has faults. Given his offensive quality, the right-back quite simply would not be playing in the Scottish Premiership without them. But more importantly, he is one of the division’s very best players.
With Nathan Patterson verging on a move to join Everton in a deal worth up to £16 million, Tavernier’s standing is magnified.
Patterson is the best talent to progress to the Ibrox first team in years. He has quickly become his country’s first-choice and impressed on the European stage. A move down south always felt inevitable. The timing has been accelerated not only because of a timely transfer but a blocked pathway into the starting XI.
In a strange roundabout way, Tavernier’s biggest challenge after years of progression was Patterson. At 30, an outsider would see the phasing out of Tavernier as common sense. With a generational talent waiting on - why not maximise his value with a season or two in the first team? Simply, Tavernier is still too good and important to be phased out.
Below the goals and assists, his influence is equally impressive. In three of the last four seasons at Ibrox, he has had the highest On-Ball Value in the team. OBV measures the value of every single action that takes place on the pitch. Offering the most wholescale picture of a player’s impact.
As seen this season, the Rangers captain comfortably tops this chart.
He is second only to Calvin Ramsey in the entire league, whose 0.56 OVB to Tavernier’s 0.55 signifies another promising young Scottish right-back's eventual move south or further afield given Bologna's reported interest.
In season 20/21 Tavernier was top in the entire division, in 19/20 he was second only to teammate Borna Barisic.
How much would it cost to replace such sustained influence? Far more than the meagre sum that brought him north in the first instance.
Patterson's move south is primarily about his talent. No Rangers fan will be surprised when he impresses in the world's most-watched league.
The premature timing however is all about the best Rangers right-back in recent memory's longevity of high-level performance.
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