It’s been a textbook transfer window for Rangers, Ross Wilson has worked wonders getting deadwood off the wage bill whilst securing the signatures of promising new acquisitions.
Those of us of a certain age will remember a time before windows when players could come and go at any time during the season without the restrictions that now governs how many times players can move in a short period.
Gers legend Brian Laudrup has reflected on his own transfer experiences, opportunities and regrets in his Daily Mail column, and reveals that he could have been a star performer for another member of Scottish footballing royalty and one of the games biggest names:
“I had only been in Scotland a few months when Barcelona called. I had a new agent, Vincenzo Morabito. He rang me to say they wanted me at the Nou Camp as soon as possible.
“I told him it was a real honour to be asked by Johan Cryuff but that I felt really good at Rangers.
“The next game was against Falkirk, I always remember that. I wanted to speak to Walter Smith about the situation face-to-face. He said, ‘So you prefer to play against Falkirk on a Tuesday night than go to Barcelona?’. ‘Absolutely,’ I replied. We shook hands and that was that.”
Laudrup continues to recount how Sir Alex Ferguson tried to get him to Manchester United in 1998 after he left Rangers but he had already committed to Chelsea, a move he not only regrets now, but one he tried to pull out of at the time – the pressure of getting a new club as quickly as possible for the benefit of his family backfiring.
What choice would you make?
Rangers
Barcelona
We were lucky to have Laudrup at the peak of his powers, he may “only” have been playing in Scottish football but his performances in international football, and particularly France ’98, prove that he was one of the finest to grace these shores.