Rangers’ search for a long-term successor to James Tavernier at right-back has increasingly zeroed in on Blackburn Rovers’ Ryan Alebiosu, and while the summer chase for the 24-year-old has already had its share of awkward moments, a closer look at the numbers behind his game reveals precisely why Ibrox recruitment staff have been so keen to get a deal for him over the line.
Tavernier’s departure at the conclusion of his contract this July left a genuine void at the club — not just in terms of on-field quality, but in leadership, set-piece delivery, and years of consistency in a role he made his own. Dujon Sterling has stepped into the position in the interim, but with the 34-year-old having also moved on, Rangers know they need fresh legs and fresh quality in that area of the pitch if they’re to avoid a defensive downgrade heading into the new season.
The pursuit of Alebiosu hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. It’s previously been reported that Rangers staff endured an embarrassing moment when the defender was left out of a Blackburn friendly that scouting representatives had specifically travelled to watch. The reason turned out to be entirely mundane — Alebiosu was simply unwell and unable to feature — but the timing meant that any Ibrox eyes in attendance were left without the first-hand look at the player they’d hoped for.
It’s the kind of scouting mishap that happens more often than clubs would like to admit, and in isolation it wouldn’t be especially newsworthy. But it does raise an interesting question: if Rangers’ recruitment team have been doing their homework on Alebiosu over the course of last season rather than relying solely on that one missed viewing, what exactly would they have found in the data?
As it turns out, quite a lot — and one number in particular stands out as the clearest indicator yet of the kind of upgrade he could represent
The standout attribute in Alebiosu’s profile is his raw pace, and it isn’t close. According to data from Sofascore, the Blackburn full-back hit a top speed of 22.12mph across last season — a figure that comfortably outstrips both of the players who have occupied the right-back slot at Ibrox in recent times.
Tavernier managed a top speed of 21.99mph in his final season with Rangers, while Sterling, who remains at the club, recorded a top speed of 21.56mph — noticeably behind the Blackburn man’s numbers. It might not sound like a dramatic gap on paper, but in a position where matching a winger’s burst or recovering ground after an overlap can be the difference between a clean tackle and a conceded chance, that kind of edge in raw pace is exactly the sort of asset that changes games at both ends of the pitch.
For a Rangers side that plays with attacking full-backs pushed high up the pitch, the ability to get forward at speed and — just as crucially — recover just as quickly when possession is lost, is invaluable. Alebiosu’s numbers suggest he ticks that box more emphatically than either of his predecessors in the Ibrox right-back shirt.
Speed alone doesn’t make a top-level full-back, of course, and it’s here where the picture becomes a little more nuanced. Given that the Championship is widely regarded as being of a broadly comparable standard to the Scottish Premiership, a reasonable statistical comparison can be drawn between Alebiosu’s output at Blackburn and the numbers previously posted by both Tavernier and Sterling in Scottish football.
Across last season in England’s second tier, Alebiosu averaged 1.7 tackles, 3.2 ball recoveries and 2.2 clearances per game — solid underlying numbers for a young full-back still developing his all-round game.
By comparison, Tavernier’s figures during his final Rangers campaign — a season in which the club finished third in the league — worked out at 1.7 tackles, 3.5 ball recoveries and 2.6 clearances per 90 minutes. Sterling, meanwhile, posted 0.9 tackles, 2.5 ball recoveries and 3.6 clearances per game across the same period.
What emerges from that comparison is a mixed but encouraging picture for Rangers. Alebiosu matches Tavernier’s tackling output exactly, and while he trails both his potential Ibrox predecessors slightly in ball recoveries and clearances, the gap isn’t especially pronounced — particularly compared to a player of Tavernier’s vast experience and Ibrox pedigree. Given that Alebiosu is also several years younger than Tavernier was during that benchmark campaign, there’s a reasonable case to be made that his defensive numbers represent a strong foundation rather than a finished product — one with real scope to improve further as he matures
That distinction matters enormously when assessing whether Alebiosu represents the right long-term fit for Ibrox. He isn’t being pitched as a the finished article ready to instantly replicate Tavernier’s decade of influence at the club — few 24-year-olds would be able to shoulder that comparison fairly. Instead, the numbers point to a player with an obvious physical gift in his athleticism, who still has defensive refinement to work on if he’s to fully cement himself as a Scottish Premiership-ready right-back capable of starting week in, week out for a club challenging domestically and in Europe.
That’s not necessarily a negative. Plenty of full-backs across Europe have joined big clubs as raw physical talents and been shaped into complete players through structured coaching and match experience. What Rangers would be banking on with Alebiosu is precisely that development curve — an already-quick, already-competent defender who, given time working with McInnes’s coaching staff, could grow into someone capable of matching or even exceeding what Tavernier offered during his peak years at the club.
The obvious complication, though, is time. Big clubs rarely have the luxury of patience when it comes to key positions, and Rangers are no exception heading into a season where expectations at Ibrox remain sky-high regardless of squad transition.
If Rangers are serious about making Alebiosu their long-term right-back solution, getting the deal for the one-cap Nigeria international done sooner rather than later carries real strategic value. The earlier a deal is struck, the more time McInnes and his coaching staff have to work with the player during pre-season — ironing out the defensive elements of his game that the numbers suggest still need attention before facing the level of opposition and physicality that Scottish Premiership and potential European football will demand.
Leave the deal too late, and Rangers risk throwing a talented but still-developing full-back straight into competitive action without the benefit of a proper adaptation period. Given the defensive gaps highlighted by the underlying data — modest as they are — that’s a risk McInnes will be keen to avoid, particularly with a title challenge and cup competitions to balance from the opening weeks of the campaign.
There’s also the matter of squad continuity to consider. With Tavernier gone and Sterling perhaps viewed as more of a stopgap than a long-term first-choice option, Rangers need clarity in that position sooner rather than later — both for tactical planning purposes and to avoid any lingering uncertainty unsettling the wider defensive unit heading into the new season
Alebiosu’s single cap for Nigeria adds an interesting subplot to his potential Ibrox move. International recognition, even at an early stage, often signals a player who has already caught the eye of national team selectors as someone with the physical and technical attributes to compete at a higher level — and it may hint at further caps and growing prominence on the international stage should his club career continue to progress in the right direction.
For Rangers, signing a player with that kind of international pedigree — however nascent — fits a broader recruitment pattern of targeting young, hungry talents with clear scope for improvement rather than simply chasing the finished article at inflated prices. It’s a strategy that, when it works, can deliver both immediate squad improvement and significant resale value further down the line.
Taken as a whole, the statistical picture painted by Alebiosu’s numbers offers a compelling case for why Rangers have identified him as their top target to succeed Tavernier. The pace advantage alone — comfortably ahead of both Tavernier and Sterling’s best recorded outputs — represents exactly the kind of physical upgrade that can transform a team’s ability to both support attacks and recover defensively in transition moments, an increasingly vital component of modern full-back play at the top level of the Scottish game.
The defensive numbers, while not yet at the level of the departed club captain, aren’t alarmingly behind either, and crucially come with the built-in expectation that a player of Alebiosu’s age still has considerable room to develop under focused coaching. For a Rangers side looking to build not just for the upcoming season but for years to come, investing in a player with that kind of long-term ceiling — rather than simply patching the position with an experienced short-term fix — represents a sensible piece of strategic planning, provided the club can move quickly enough to secure his signature and give him the best possible platform to hit the ground running
The missed friendly viewing might have been an inconvenience, but on the evidence of the numbers already available, Rangers’ recruitment staff will have more than enough data to make an informed judgement on whether Alebiosu is the man to fill one of Ibrox’s most iconic defensive shirts. What happens next depends on how quickly Govan can turn that judgement into an actual deal — and how much patience McInnes is willing to show while a promising but still-developing talent adjusts to life in Scottish football’s spotligh
