Borna Barisic is about to leave Rangers on a free transfer, according to Mail on Sunday journalist Gary Keown.

The 30-year-old Barisic, whose contract expires at the end of the current campaign, may become the latest in a long line of established players to depart Ibrox without a contract in the last year despite their worth to the team.

Keown is furious at the way contracts were handled at Ibrox and is pleading with Philippe Clement to help find a new director of football who will prevent these errors from happening again.

Keown, conscious of sounding like a broken record here, wrote in the Scottish Mail on Sunday, November 5, that “the manager of assets at Rangers in recent years has been a disgrace.” In addition to a great deal of garbage being signed, important players like Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos were permitted to expire their contracts and go for nothing.

Whatever your opinion of Borna Barisic, who has represented Croatia on 31 occasions, he is about to leave for nothing as well. It cannot continue.

Behind the scenes, Clement is enforcing strict guidelines for fitness work and communicating with the medical department. It is imperative that he ensures the board appoints a new director of football and improves the methods by which they identify, develop, and eventually monetize talent.

“Despite spending £3.4 million to sign [Ridvan] Yilmaz from Besiktas, there is little indication that he will be a dependable replacement with Barisic’s contract expiring in the summer.”

Ridiculous

It’s too soon to predict that Barisic will leave Ibrox for free.

Given that his contract expires at the end of the season, clubs will undoubtedly be allowed to contact him in January with a pre-contract arrangement.

Though there are still about two months until then, there’s no doubt that Govan is working behind the scenes to extend the left-back’s contract by at least another 12 months.

Keown must not have read this week’s reports on the Croatian international’s predicament.

On November 3, Football Scotland claimed that negotiations are in progress to secure a new deal for Barisic, with Watford and Roma showing interest in the left-back.

Although Barisic has occasionally been a liability for Glasgow, he is a player with value in the transfer market, and it is imperative to avoid a Morelos or Kent scenario in the future.

There may be something there if Jose Mourinho is examining Barisic, but if we were the full back, we would hold off and see what January has to offer.

A year ago, this should have been resolved.