Nightmare begins for the former Rangers duo, Barisic and Lundstram in a dire circumstance

There was no denying that life at Rangers was full of unexpected turns and turns.

However, neither John Lundstram nor Borna Barisic could have truly anticipated how turbulent things would end up being at their new club just a few weeks into their post-Ibrox careers.

When their contracts expired at the end of June, the two long-time Rangers players said their goodbyes.

After the younger Ridvan Yilmaz stole his spot in the starting lineup, Barisic, a veteran of that 2021 title-winning season under Steven Gerrard, left the team.

While Lundstram, at thirty, was still a formidable force in Premiership midfields, Rangers decided to replace his experience with youthful exuberance by bringing in Mohammed Diomande and Connor Barron.

Although some Rangers fans are lamenting the team’s poor start to the season—Philippe Clement’s team crushed Ross County 6-0 last week, but they still have some gaps in their play—”disastrous” seems to sum up Trabzonspor’s own 2024–2025 campaign quite well.

Rangers players Borna Barisic and John Lundstram departed for Turkey.

Trabzonspor have lost their last five games despite adding Okay Yokuslu, Denis Dragus, and former Hull star Ozan Tufan to their roster, keeping star goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, and bringing in both Barisic and Lundstram.

Even though September isn’t even here, the Black Sea band has already left Europe.

Trabzonspor was eliminated from continental competition entirely after losing on penalties to Swiss team St Gallen in the Conference League play-offs, following their 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Rapid Vienna in the Europa League qualifiers.

Abdullah Avci, the head coach, seems to have made up for these shortcomings in his employment.

Through his official X account, Turkish reporter Yagiz Sabuncuoglo asserts that Trabzonspor and Avci have split ways. The Super Liga powerhouses have also declared that the former head coach of the national team did not show up for training on Saturday, although official confirmation is still pending, according to Sporx.

Abdullah Avcı ile yollar ayrıldı.

— Yağız Sabuncuoğlu (@yagosabuncuoglu) August 30, 2024

Trabzonspor has already left Europe.

It is unclear what this implies for Barisic and Lundstram.

But no European football, and it seems like there’s no manager? When the seasoned former Rangers team members got back together at Papara Park two months ago, this was not the beginning they had anticipated.

At least Barisic scored from his penalty kick in the shootout loss to St. Gallen, which eliminated Trabzonspor from the competition after Stefan Savic, a former defender for Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, struck the crossbar.

On the other hand, Lundstram began with both legs on the bench. Despite being a constant in recent weeks, Barisic’s former Ibrox teammate has not yet cemented a spot in the starting lineup.

Lundstram will be hoping that his new Turkish home can serve as a sort of launching pad for him with the selection of a new head coach.

Regarding Barisic, Avci called his move to Trabzonspor a “masterstroke” back in July. By the end of August, “masterstroke” is pretty much the last term that anyone at the Papara is using to characterise the miserable beginning of what could be a disastrous campaign.