![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_JS359230732.jpg\")
James Tavernier dejected after Rangers missed penalty in Queen’s Park Scottish Cup defeat<\/p>\nThe captain will mark 10 years at Ibrox this summer but faces major competition for a starting spot in the teamJames Tavernier dejected after Rangers missed penalty in Queen’s Park Scottish Cup defeat<\/p>\n
Rangers captain James Tavernier<\/a> has already made his exit stance clear to the Ibrox powerbrokers ahead of the imminent arrival of Max Aarons.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old has one year left on his current deal in Govan, with this summer marking ten years at the club.<\/p>\n In previous summers he has been touted with a potential move to the Saudi Pro League to link up with Steven Gerrard<\/a> at Al-Ettifaq – before the Liverpool icon was shown the door – and was also wanted by Trabzonspor.<\/p>\n And speculation over the long-term future of the right-back has ramped up with Aarons <\/a>set to arrive from Bournemouth on loan as Russell Martin’s first signing.<\/a><\/p>\n But speaking in the final weeks of last season, Tavernier insisted he was already looking towards his testimonial year with the Light Blues – and adding to his silverware haul.<\/p>\n He said at the time: “I have got one more year left, I am not looking beyond that.<\/p>\n “I am settled as I have been and I want to win more things, that’s what I want to do.<\/p>\n “I will continue to give everything that I have got, keep working hard and try to achieve bigger and better things for the club.”<\/p>\n The Ibrox Hall of Famer did drop out of the starting XI for spells under Philippe Clement last season as his form suffered a dip and the criticism intensified.<\/p>\n But new boss Martin has already hinted Tavernier will stay at Ibrox next term – insisting he will retain the captain’s armband.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIf he’s playing. He’s been the captain for a very long time. I don’t see any reason to change that. And if he’s not playing, it will force someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n At times last season, Tavernier was deployed at centre-back during injury-plagued spells. A report from The Herald earlier this week claimed that “more than one source has suggested the player himself sees his long-term role in that position.”<\/p>\n It is noted he is “not expected to make a move away” from the club this summer – but could he cover at centre-back while Aarons slots in on the right side of defence?<\/p>\n Former Rangers<\/a> striker Ross McCormack doesn’t think so – and had a warning for incoming Aarons.<\/p>\n He told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard: “I know we have spoke time and time again about Tavernier, but up until three or four weeks ago Tavernier could get up and down the pitch at right-back, and now all of a sudden he is not going to be able to?<\/p>\n “If Tavernier is fit, Tavernier will play right-back. He is the club captain and he still delivers numbers that are very, very good.<\/p>\n “Russell Martin knows him and says he is still going to be club captain. I believe he will be fit enough to play nearly every game this season.”<\/p>\n Tune in to Hotline Live<\/a> every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On<\/a>, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The captain will mark 10 years at Ibrox this summer but faces major competition for a starting spot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1923,94,1949,45135,40766,1946,37715,28104,1638,79,10246,10107,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-afc-bournemouth","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-james-tavernier","11":"tag-max-aarons","12":"tag-philippe-clement","13":"tag-rangers-fc","14":"tag-rangers-fc-transfer-news","15":"tag-russell-martin","16":"tag-scottish-premiership","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-steven-gerrard","19":"tag-transfer-talk","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114718586061566945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_max.jpg\")
Max Aarons (left) squares off against Vinicius Junior(Image: M Gracia Jimenez\/Soccrates\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n