Top 10 ranked 

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Rangers captain James Tavernier confirmed on Wednesday that he would depart the Scottish Premiership club at the end of the seaon. Despite joining the Ibrox club for just €250k from Wigan in 2015, when Rangers were in the second tier of Scottish football, Tavernier has gone on to become a tremendous servant for the club, amassing an incredible 562 appearances, alongside an equally impressive 144 goals and 148 assists for the Glasgow giants.

“This club has been a huge part of my life and my family’s over the past 11 years,” said Tavernier, reflecting on 11 years at Rangers in a statement on social media. “It’s given me so much, both on and off the pitch, and from the moment I arrived I’ve always tried to give everything I had to represent it in the right way. To have had the honour of being made captain of this club since 2018 is something I will always be incredibly proud of.” So where does Tavernier’s time at Rangers rank among the longest stints in European football today?

Tavernier rivals Celtic stars for top spots

After excluding players in leagues ranked 21st or lower on UEFA’s coefficient table and former players that have either hung up their boots or departed the clubs they once played for – i.e Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes for Manchester United or Lionel Messi for Barcelona – we have a definitve list of the top 10 players to make 500 appearances for their current clubs. And, as we can see, Tavernier ranks rather high with his 562 games for Rangers placing him sixth and, curiously, just two games behind cross-city rival James Forrest at Celtic.

Whether Tavernier can overtake Forrest before the end of the season remaind to be seen, or indeed the other two players above him in the ranking. Celta Vigo forward Iago Aspas currently sits just three games ahead of Tavernier on 565 appearances for the LaLiga club, while Celtic captain Callum McGregor is just one game shy of 570. After that, the top two are some distance off, with Manuel Neuer likely to surpass 600 games for Bayern Munich before the end of the season and Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke in a league of his own with 732 appearances for the Spanish giants.