Rangers have made some high-profile signings over the years, with the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup going on to becoming Ibrox legends after heading to Glasgow.
Mikel Arteta, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ronald de Boer were just some other big names who decided to move to Scotland, but there could have been a lot more if the Gers got their way.
From Lionel Messi to Ronaldo, Rangers nearly signed some legends of the game.
10 star players Rangers almost signed 10 Lionel Messi
Shortly before Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut, Rangers and manager at the time Alex McLeish were alerted to the Argentine talent.
McLeish’s son, Jon, found Messi on Football Manager, with the Gers trying but failing to sign him on loan back in 2003.
“My son Jon was into Championship Manager. He was constantly giving me names in South America. They come out of the sky and say ‘Lionel Messi is going to be the best player in the world’. He was 13 or 14 at the time. You dismiss it but Rangers were downsizing and we were looking for some quality in midfield.
“Barry Ferguson had gone down to Blackburn so we lost a guy who would have taken the ball in any stadium anywhere in the world. We needed players of that ilk again. Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was the assistant of Frank Rijkaard, the ex-Dutch international. “Jan phoned him and said: ‘Messi?’ We were told no chance.”
9 Andres Iniesta
At the same time Rangers were trying to sign Messi, they also almost brought midfield maestro Andres Iniesta to Ibrox.
The Spaniard was a teenager at the time and nearly headed to Scotland on loan for regular game time as Rangers looked for their Barry Ferguson replacement. Unfortunately, Iniesta would get his chance in the Barca first-team shortly after and wouldn’t look back.
“[Ten Cate] said ‘we’ve got a young kid, Iniesta, he’s a phenomenal player’, only 18 or 19. We said ‘can he come to Scotland?’ They said ‘yep I’ll try and make hay at Barcelona and get him over to you. He needs to get some action’. By the Monday, Iniesta was called into the team and he played a stormer. Ten Cate came back and Jan asked him ‘what about the wee man? Are we getting him?’ Ten Cate sighed and said we had no chance.”
8 Ronaldo
Brazilian striker Ronaldo is arguably the biggest what if case when it comes to near transfer misses for Rangers.
The forward was wanted by the Gers, Lazio and Inter Milan in 1997 when he was still a Barcelona player. Ronaldo even had an offer from Rangers and former owner David Murray, but headed to Inter Milan instead.
“Yes it’s true I received an offer from Glasgow Rangers. We looked at it and decided the best offer at the time was from Inter Milan so I gave my apologies.”
7 Alan Shearer
Before becoming a goalscoring machine for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, Alan Shearer was a Southampton player.
The Premier League’s all-time record scorer caught the eye of Rangers boss Walter Smith in the early 1990s, however, those at Ibrox couldn’t persuade Shearer to head to Scotland.
6 Dennis Bergkamp
Smith certainly had an eye for a future attacking star, as, along with Shearer, also wanted to bring Dennis Bergkamp to Rangers in the 1990s.
Bergkamp was an Inter Milan player at the time, and after Rangers failed to put a proposal together, the skilful Dutch forward signed for Arsenal in a £7.5m deal and would go on to become a Gunners legend.
Games
422
Goals
120
Assists
116
Trophies
10
5 Samuel Eto'o
After struggling to break through into Real Madrid’s first team from their academy, Samuel Eto’o found a home with Mallorca, securing a permanent move to the Spanish side in 2000.
The Cameroon striker would star for his new side and was wanted by McLeish in 2002. Rangers missed out on Eto’o, who, two years later, would sign for Barcelona, where he won three La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies.
4 Jaap Stam
It wasn’t just attacking stars who nearly signed for Rangers, with central defender Jaap Stam targeted by Dick Advocaat after he took over as Ibrox manager in 1998.
Stam was a PSV Eindhoven regular under Advocaat, but he couldn’t bring the towering centre-back with him to Scotland, with Sir Alex Ferguson and Man Utd winning the race.
“When I was working with Advocaat at PSV he tried to bring me to Rangers, but unfortunately for him Manchester United came in for me the same summer.”
3 Robin van Persie
A Rangers move for Robin van Persie was extremely close in 2003, with a deal even agreed with Feyenoord for the Dutch forward to move to Ibrox for just £3m.
Van Persie was persuaded to head to Ibrox by Advocaat, however, Rangers failed to raise the funds and the striker would sign for Arsenal a year later.
“I was still playing for Feyenoord and I wanted to go there [Rangers]. I spoke to Dick and he was interested. I was ready to go but they first needed to sell one player before they could buy me. Dick never told me who it was but I was ready to go until, in the end, I joined Arsenal. It was a good move to leave Holland and going to England was great.”
2 Emmanuel Petit
Rangers found themselves in a bidding war with Arsenal for Emmanuel Petit back in 1997, and if it wasn’t for the Gunners, the French midfielder could have easily been a major signing for the Gers.
Former owner Murray once lifted the lid on how close Rangers were to bringing Petit to Ibrox.
“By the time we reached the final round of negotiations it was down to Arsenal and ourselves. After Walter [Smith] spoke to the player he felt that Petit’s strong links with his former manager Arsene Wenger would swing the deal. We felt we were being edged up all the time. We started negotiating at £3.25m and it ended up at £4m. We were not prepared to be pulled up any higher.”
1 Luka Modric
Rangers could have signed Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric in the early stages of his career for just £3.5m, however, those at Ibrox didn’t have the funds.
Former Rangers assistant Ally McCoist was actually sent to watch Dinamo Zagreb right-back Vedran Corluka but was stunned at what he saw from Modric and urged the club to get a deal done.
“Walter [Smith] sent me over to Dinamo Zagreb to look at the right back who went to Spurs as well, Vedran Corluka. He phoned me after the game and said ‘what do you think?’ and I said ‘I’ll tell you gaffer, they’ve got a wee boy in the middle of the park, he’s absolutely outrageous, see how much money we’ve got’. I think we could have got him for £3.5m but we didn’t have the money.”
