Historic quotes from ex-Rangers coach Dick Advocaat have resurfaced claiming the Gers once tried to sign former Man United striker and PSV Eindhoven boss Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Rangers have just drawn van Nistelrooy’s PSV in the Champions League Playoff round after Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side dispatched Union Saint Gilloise and his former Dutch international teammate guided the Eredivisie side past Monaco.
The legendary Dutch poacher is a former Philips Stadion star but is best known for his time with both Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils and La Liga giants Real Madrid.
But before Ruud van Nistelrooy made the switch to Old Trafford in 2001, Dick Advocaat claims Rangers had expressed record-breaking £15m interest in the prolific forward.
However, the lure of the Premier League proved too strong and 70-times capped Netherlands legend opted to move to Man United.
Dick Advcoaat: “Rangers made Ruud van Nistelrooy PSV move”
“We could have brought van Nistelrooy to Ibrox so I called his agent because he comes from the same town in the Netherlands where I was brought up,” said Advocaat [Scottish Sun].
“But he told me that there’s no way Ruud will come to Scotland.
“Rangers’ name is much bigger in the Netherlands because of me, but that doesn’t mean to say that it impresses everyone.
“And sadly for us, van Nistelrooy made up his mind to go to the English Premier League.”
Whilst Ruud van Nistelrooy never signed for Rangers, that doesn’t mean he didn’t visit Ibrox during his playing career.
The striker was left shell-shocked by the Ibrox atmosphere in 1999 as Rangers romped to a 4-1 win over PSV, with van Nistelrooy scoring the Dutch club’s only goal.
Rangers boss van Bronckhorst, who is a former international teammate of the ex-poacher, claims that Ruud admitted he thought the Ibrox atmosphere “was very frightening”.
The Dutch striker also played at Ibrox with Man United in 2003, in a game that one of his teammates claims was the loudest atmosphere he ever played in.