By his own admission, Nana Kasawnirjo is the young pretender in the Rangers backline. But he’s also the first to admit that old stager James Tavernier remains the daddy at Ibrox.
The on-loan Dutchman may be after the skipper’s right-back slot but he also has full respect for the father figure he’s aiming to dislodge. As the longest serving member of the current squad, Tavernier has been there and done that where Rangers are concerned.
The Gers faithful would certainly have liked to have seen the captain hoisting silverware on a more regular basis. But we’re talking about a man who helped heave the club out of the lower divisions and has since then picked up all three domestic trinkets while also leading from the front as Gers stormed to a European final. Now after nine and a half years in Glasgow, some of those fans are looking to the future as they imagine a life beyond Tavernier.
They got a rare glimpse of how that might look against St Mirren on Sunday as the Englishman failed to start a league game for the first time since May 14, 2022 – four days before he marched his team out to face Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville. Kasanwirjo was the man handed his jersey and while it was another drab display from Philippe Clement’s team, no one can have any complaints about the on-loan Feyenoord defender’s contribution.
Standing in for a man who has been virtually ever present on the Ibrox team-sheet since he first walked through the door in 2015 won’t have been easy on his 22-year-old rival. But Kasanwirjo was grateful for the fatherly advice he received before taking on the Buddies.
The Dutch under-21 kid said: “Yeah, he came before the game to me and said to just enjoy the game and show the quality you can play. He said to me don’t look at it like I replaced James Tavernier, just play for the team.
“And he said, ‘Just enjoy it’. So yeah, I think those words help me a lot. Everybody speak with me, speak with other guys. Tav is the father of the team. So it’s good for the young boys to have somebody like this.”
If Tav is the father of the team, then what does that make Kasanwirjo? “I’m the young boy,” grinned the Amsterdammer. But if he’s to graduate from talented prospect to established first-team regular, the versatile stopper may well need to nail down a regular slot. He made his full Gers debut in Sweden last month at left-back, impressing in the Europa League win over Malmo as he covered for the suspended Jefte.
Sunday’s 2-1 win over Saints saw him start on his favoured right-hand side before switching to centre-back as compatriot Robin Propper was finally recused from the torturing he was suffering at the hands of Buddies flyer Toyosi Olusanya.
Given Clement’s injury concerns with John Souttar and Propper’s on-going struggles adapting to the Scottish game, there’s a decent chance Kasanwirjo might be asked to partner Leon Balgoun again when Gers head to Pittodrie on Wednesday for their crucial clash with table-topping Aberdeen. Kasanwirjo – whose loan deal at Ibrox includes the option to make his move permanent – isn’t worrying about where he plays… as long as he does.
He said: “Yeah, of course, I like to play duels with all the strikers and in a middle there are more duels than on the side [at full-back]. But I don’t prefer the middle or the side. I just play where I can to pick up my minutes. I want to start every week, but it’s up to the coach and up to me how I train to give the best impression of myself.
“I enjoy the physicality here in Scotland. Last year, I played in the Austrian league with Rapid Vienna. And there’s more duels there than here, I think. It was only long balls, no football – just duels, duels, duels. But I like to play duels.
“I’ve played a lot of games already, but now it’s just about competing with everybody on the team to make minutes and make a good impression. I think [the decision over my future] is not only on me [to make]. But for me, I have to play. Then we have to come to a decision at the end at the end of the season.”
But before that, Rangers have far more pressing matters. The enormity of Wednesday’s Aberdeen trip should be lost on no-one – and especially Clement. Defeat would see Gers slip nine points adrift of the Dons and place the Belgian boss’ Ibrox future in grave doubt. But Kasanwirjo insists Rangers will have the battle fever on when they head to the Granite City after fighting hard for victory over St Mirren.
He said: “Every game is a fight — not only Aberdeen, but for example, Sunday’s game was a fight as well. You see, we didn’t win that easy.
“We have to compete every day, every day, every day, training as well. How do I feel I played? Good. Of course, the first 20 minutes of the game was really hard. And then after that, you see, we dominated the game. We have a lot of possession. But when it went 1-1, then you have to stay calm and wait for the second goal.”
Gers got their win at the weekend thanks to another former Feyenoord ace. Cyriel Dessers has endured something of a love/hate relationship with the Ibrox crowd which rises and falls along with his yo-yo form levels. But Kasanwirjo is impressed by the way Dessers – who climbed off the bench to set up Vaclav Cerny’s winner – is able to block out his critics and come back for more.
“I didn’t Cyriel know well but I played against him,” he explained. “I never played with him, because the season he left, I came to to Feyenoord. But I think it’s not only about Cyriel, everybody in this team has this character to come and fight for the team. And that’s what I said before. This is a real family, and we need to protect that.”