Alex McLeish broke one of his cardinal rules to bring Mikel Arteta to Rangers.
But only because the former Rangers manager didn’t want to be known as a ‘dumpling’ for the rest of the his days in management.
Alex McLeish was in charge at Ibrox when Rangers forked out £6m to bring Arteta to the club in the summer of 2022 from Spanish giants Barcelona.
But with all the pieces of the transfer in place before McLeish took the reins at Rangers, the legendary former Ibrox manager admits the signing represented a huge gamble.
Why Alex McLeish signed off on Mikel Arteta
Speaking on a special Sky Sports Transfer 360 about Mikel Arteta’s transfer to Rangers, Alex McLeish revealed David Murray left the decision over the deal up to the manager.
Whilst McLeish was just in the door at Ibrox, Rangers had played against Mikel Arteta in a famous penalty kicks win over a star-studded PSG team the season previously.
This was enough to convince the Rangers hierarchy of the young Spaniard’s credentials and McLeish, weary of missing out on a wonderkid, signed off on the transfer.
”David Murray showed me around the stadium and the training ground,” said McLeish.
”He said ‘we’ve got a player pending, it’s up to you though if you want him’.
”He’s a young guy, he’s at Barcelona just now but he was on loan to PSG from Barcelona and he’s come through the Barcelona system.
”And I thought right, if I say no and this guy turns into a superstar, that was in my head, I thought I’ll be remembered for the rest of my life as being a dumping for not picking him up.”
Rangers manager broke cardinal rule in £6m gamble
Alex McLeish made a promise to himself in management that he’d never sign a player before seeing them play.
It’s a promise he kept up until he walked through the gates at Rangers.
With everything in place, McLeish sent coaches Jan Wouters and Andy Watson on a scouting missing and was left trusting their evaluations upon their return.
And won’t the Rangers manager be glad he did, with Mikel Arteta famously going on to score a decisive penalty for the Gers to win the SPL title on the final day of the season.
Arteta was also part of a star-studded team who lifted the Scottish domestic treble in the 02/03 season, the last time the Gers achieved the feat.
”I evaluated it with my coaches,” said Arteta.
”Jan Wouters and Andy Watson were my coaches (and) went him to see him duly playing for PSG in one of the games.
”Andy came back and said ‘Alec, he’s got good feet, he’s quick, he’s definitely got the quality to play in the Scottish game, he kept the ball really well, he had the athleticism’.
”That’s when we got the thinking caps on and said, let’s get him.
”It was a bit of a gamble because I’d never actually see him personally.
”One of the laws that I had for myself was if I don’t see the player with my own eyes then I’m not taking him, but I trusted Andy.”
Mikel Arteta also spoke about the transfer to Rangers and revealed that his initial intention was to stay with Paris Saint Germain.
But the French side could not agree terms with Barcelona and it freed up Arteta to agree a deal with Rangers just days before his 20th birthday.
”It wasn’t an option (to stay at PSG) because we could not agree terms with Barcelona,” said Arteta.
”So that wasn’t an option. My intention was to stay in Paris. I had so much to do still.
”But I was really happy. I was a starter in the team. We had a magnificent team and a manager who believed in me but they could not agree with Barca.
”I had to make a decision and I did.”
