Rangers, believe it or not, have had a few strange run-ins with Barcelona over the years.
While the claims that Lionel Messi came within touching distance of Ibrox when still a floppy-haired junior making his name at La Masia have been twisted over the years like a game of Chinese Whispers, another future Barca icon would certainly come a lot closer to donning that famous blue shirt.
“[Then Barcelona assistant coach Henk Ten Cate] said; ‘We’ve got a young kid. [Andres] Iniesta. He’s a phenomenal player,’ recalls Alex McLeish speaking to Graham Hunter as part of his Big Interview series.
“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 said we had no chance.”
In search of more modern examples, Rangers supporters may recall the name Pablo Torre. The one-time Racing Santander starlet was reportedly scouted by Rangers back in 2021 before putting pen to paper at Camp Nou.
Moving on from Barcelona, however, connections between Rangers and Real Madrid a far more sparse.
Though there is the strange story of the footballer tempted by a move to Rangers back in 2007, only to end up stuck on the bench at Real Madrid in one of the oddest sporting journeys of recent times.
Julian Faubert could have joined Rangers before West Ham United
“Rangers have shown the biggest interest,” the agent of then-Bordeaux full-back Julien Faubert said 15 years ago. “And the passion to sign Julien is something that attracts him.
“A lot of clubs want to sign him. Roma would like Julien, as would Tottenham. [But] Rangers are very interested in signing Julien. A move to Scotland is something that excites him.
“His long-term goal is to play in the English Premiership, but playing at a huge club like Rangers could help him achieve that.”
In the end, Faubert would not need that Scottish stepping stone. A man potentially lined up to replace a much-admired youngster by the name of Alan Hutton moved directly from France to England instead when West Ham United eventually forked over a fee in the region of £6 million.
But, in perhaps the greatest ever example of someone ‘falling upwards’, Faubert would go from Upton Park to the Santiago Bernabeu in the space of just largely injury-interrupted 18 months in London.
By Faubert’s own admission, he had his doubts when the call from Madrid arrived. Was this a bone-headed prank, he asked?
Faubert’s response, when initially contacted en route to a Premier league clash with Fulham, is not exactly repeatable in a family publication.
Fifteen years later, that Faubert’s two-game spell with Los Blancos is best remembered for rumours of him falling asleep on the subs bench, and the look of bewilderment from Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano during the Frenchman’s official unveiling, speaks volumes about a transfer which cemented his place in every list ever to be written counting down the greatest flops of the modern era at the Champions League holders.
That there is barely a single picture out there showing him actually playing for Real in a competitive setting speaks volumes.
Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid were in no rush to trigger the option-to-buy clause in Faubert’s contract before sending him packing back to West Ham.
Faubert explained why Rangers move didn’t happen in 2007
But what of Rangers? Why are the Glasgow giants merely a small chapter in this strange footballing tale?
Well, as Faubert would later explain, once West Ham offered him the opportunity to cut out the proverbial middle man and fast-track his way to the Premier League, he and his agent had few qualms about leaving Rangers hanging.
“I had left [France] to sign for the Glasgow Rangers. I was talking to them, at the table, with my agent,” Faubert tells Girondins 4 Ever.
“And my agent, during this discussion, received a text message, telling him that West Ham was clearly interested and were in Bordeaux.
“He tells me to go to the toilet, we’re talking, and he asks me if I’m interested.
“I tell him, yes, and he asks me to leave from the table, and we go. We left, we left them high and dry, unfortunately.”
Given how Faubert’s time at West Ham would turn out – cut loose after five forgettable years, two goals and one relegation – you won’t find many Rangers supporters taking sympathy with a man destined to down in footballing folklore as arguably the oddest Real Madrid signing of all time.
