Mark Warburton has warned Rangers that a host of England’s top-flight managers are queuing up to take
James Tavernier off their hands.
Warburton spoke out exclusively to
Record Sport after a section of Ibrox fans pinned the blame on their captain’s slap-stick defending for Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Hearts.
alls have been growing recently for boss
Steven Gerrard to axe the full-back from his starting line-up with Tavernier also copping the flak after two separate blunders led to a Europa League defeat to Young Boys of Bern.
But now the man who bought him for
Rangers in the first place has revealed a number of Premier League clubs will be carefully monitoring developments ahead of the January transfer window.
The
Queens Park Rangers boss said: “I know for a fact there is a lot of interest in him down here. I hear people talk and I’ve had a lot of phone-calls from managers at other clubs who are asking me about him. I always give them my honest opinion.
“But this is not a new thing. It’s been going on for a long time now
“I remember we were playing a game and we knew a top Premier League club was coming to watch him.
“After the game I was chatting with Davie Weir and we both agreed Tav hadn’t had his best game in terms of one-v-one defending.
“Then the guy from the club who was watching him came up to us and said,’’ He was magnificent”
“What he saw was an athlete going forward, whipping balls into the box and causing all sorts of problems for the opponents.”
“So a lot of Premier League clubs have been watching him because they know how good he is.”
“He’s a very talented boy. Yes, everyone has areas they can improve on but Tav is an outstanding asset and a top class professional. He deserves nothing but respect.”