Glasgow Rangers placed a clear emphasis on recruiting young and exciting players who have room to develop and grow over the years to come.
To create space for new players to come in, the likes of Connor Goldson, Scott Wright, Ryan Jack, Borna Barisic, and John Lundstram, among others, were allowed to move on.
This allowed head of recruitment Nils Koppen to swoop to sign Hamza Igamane, Clinton Nsiala, Vaclav Cerny, Mohammed Diomande, Oscar Cortes, Neraysho Kasanwirjo, Nedim Bajrami, Jefte, Liam Kelly, Robin Propper, and Connor Barron for Philippe Clement.
Eight of those players are aged 25 or younger and five of them are aged 21 or younger, which speaks to the style of recruitment the club have gone for.
Having a steady stream of impressive academy talents would be helpful for a model that is based around developing and selling talent, but that is something Rangers have struggled with.
Ross McCausland emerged in the first-team last season but has yet to nail down a regular starting spot and there are only two active former Rangers academy players – Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour – who are valued at more than £10m by Transfermarkt.
One of the most valuable players to have played in the Gers youth set-up, though, is a star they fumbled by allowing him to leave for nothing – Greg Taylor.
Rangers fumbled Greg Taylor
The now-Scotland international began his career with St Andrews, playing there for 18 months, before moving to join Rangers at the age of nine in 2006.
He then spent the next six years playing in the academy for the Light Blues, developing and honing his skills, before being told that he was no longer wanted in the summer of 2014.
Taylor later explained that the Scottish giants allowed him to move on for nothing because he was deemed to be "too small and too slight" to make it at first-team level.
The talented left-back admitted that the rejection by Rangers provided him with the motivation he needed to kick on and make sure that he proved those coaches wrong, which is exactly what the Scottish star has gone on to do.
Kilmarnock took advantage of his release from Ibrox and snapped him up for their youth team, before Taylor went on to emerge as a first-team option for them.
The left-footed ace racked up 131 appearances in all competitions for Kilmarnock, in which time he scored one goal and provided ten assists, before being sold to Celtic in the summer of 2019.
Greg Taylor's current market value
At the time of writing (08/09/2024), Transfermarkt currently values Taylor at a price of €7.5m (£6.3m) and that makes him the third-most expensive former Rangers academy player currently playing.
Yet, despite all of his success since being in the youth set-up at Ibrox, the Light Blues did not get a single penny for him as they allowed him to walk away for nothing to join Kilmarnock back in 2014, just over a decade ago.
Since his move to Parkhead in 2019, Taylor has amassed 178 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops and contributed with eight goals and 27 assists.
The Scotland international has won the Scottish Premiership title four times, the SFA Cup three times, and the League Cup twice during his spell in Glasgow to date.
However, he did not manage at least 30 league appearances in a single season until the 2022/23 campaign, with his best form in a Celtic shirt coming in the last two seasons.
Appearances
31
35
Goals
3
3
Assists
4
4
Big chances created
2
11
Clean sheets
12
11
As you can see in the table above, Taylor has chipped in with six goals and 13 'big chances' created in the last Premiership seasons under Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou.
The Scottish dynamo, who claimed in 2022 that he had improved "insane amounts" at Celtic, has proven himself to be an attack-minded left-back who can push forward to provide quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
His fantastic form in the Premiership for the Hoops is why his market value is so high, and why it is currently higher than Clement's current first-choice left-back – when fit – Ridvan Yilmaz.
How much Ridvan Yilmaz is worth
At the time of writing (08/09/2024), Transfermarkt places the Turkey international's current market value at €5m (£4.2m), which is less than Taylor's €7.5m.
Rangers paid an initial fee of £3.4m, in a deal that could rise to £5m, to sign the talented full-back from Besiktas in the summer of 2022 in an attempt to replace Calvin Bassey, who had been sold to Ajax.
This shows that he is worth less than Taylor, who Rangers once allowed to walk out of the door for nothing, but is that reflected in their performances on the pitch?
Appearances
26
35
Goals
1
3
Assists
1
4
Big chances created
6
11
Clean sheets
6
11
As you can see in the table above, the Scottish star outperformed Yilmaz as an attacking threat for his side, with more goals, assists, and 'big chances' created.
He was also part of a defence that kept more clean sheets, which speaks to his defensive ability, and this suggests that their respective valuations are fair, in the sense that the Celtic ace is more valuable.
Yilmaz, at the age of 23, does have more time to develop and improve over the years to come, but Taylor is the better player at Premiership level in the here and now.
It is now down to the Turkey international, who has missed the last four matches with a hamstring injury, to hit his stride in a Gers shirt and overtake the Hoops man.
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If he can do that, whilst increasing his value by putting in fantastic displays on the pitch, then Rangers can forget about their blunder with the Scotland international.
