Rangers fans will be surprised to learn that they fought off competition from none other than Real Madrid to clinch one of Dick Advocaat’s most “memorable” signings.
It was another addition to Advocaat’s Dutch contingent that turned his nose up at a member of European football’s aristocracy and many – if not all – will be surprised to learn that it was Bert Konterman who chose Glasgow over Madrid, according to an interview with the Talkin Fitba Podcast (and reported in The Scottish Sun).
Konterman explains how the summer before his move to Rangers, Madrid had made a £9million offer to tempt him away from Feyenoord and why he rejected one of the most famous clubs in world football:
“That summer, Real Madrid offered 20 million gilders (£9.16m) for me to Feyenoord Rotterdam. Leo Beenhakker was my coach and had coached Real Madrid for three years before.
“He came to me and said ‘Real Madrid want you’, I said ‘Nah, you’re joking, I don’t believe you’
“He said ‘But do you want that? You’ll be playing in the Champions League this year – I want you to stay at Feyenoord but I can imagine you’d want to go to Real Madrid because it’s a fantastic club.’
“I was a little nervous about learning Spanish, I think as a human being at that time I was not ready to make that move to Real Madrid, afterwards it was maybe a stupid move from me because they were really serious.
“The Real chairman was already in Holland for the final negotiations to make the deal but I said to the coach Leo Beenhakker ‘I want to stay at Feyenoord, I’m happy here.’
“At that time I had no hard feelings, no pain, nothing of that decision but I kept all the articles in the paper because nobody believes it otherwise.”
Konterman is remembered fondly for, literally, one thing – his 30-yard screamer against Celtic in the semi-final of the league cup after Alex McLeish had taken over from Advocaat.
Playing in the centre of defence, Rangers fans saw a previously solid and consistent defence ripped apart to make way for both Konterman and Fernando Ricksen as the club’s form nose dived from comfortably winning the league to losing it by a huge margin.
Once Konterman was moved to a central midfield role and the Craig Moore – Lorenzo Amoruso partnership was restored, McLeish built the foundations that saw his side win five trophies on the spin.
The amiable Dutchman was an established international when he signed but he just wasn’t capable of dealing with the physicality needed to be a defender in the Scottish Premiership, with hindsight and despite the “Bertiyarder”, a few years in Spain may have been a better option rather than getting battered from pillar to post on a cold January night in Dingwall.