Slayer of Scotland Khvicha Kvaratskhelia might’ve wound up at Rangers had things gone differently.
That’s according to former Rangers captain Craig Moore, who claims the club were offered the 22-year-old Georgia winger before his switch to Napoli.
As many Rangers fans watched the attacker destroy Scotland with Georgia, some might’ve recalled the comments the Aussie made on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia earlier in the year.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia linked to Rangers
Whilst there wasn’t a lot of context around the situation, Moore claims he offered Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Rangers on a loan with an option-to-buy during his time at Georgian side Dinamo Batumi.
However, the Gers were said to have their transfer work “set” at the time and the club turned the opportunity down with Moore admitting there was an £11m fee attached to the winger.
“It’s a funny story,” Moore told the GO Radio Football Show (16/03/22). “He was in Russia and due to all the issues he went back to Georgia to play at Batumi.
“I had the mandate to try and get him to Southampton with the management company I am working with. Southampton at £11-12million – which was the figure at the time – said that’s probably not something we are looking at, and it’s still a bit of a risk.
“The English clubs like to see you perform somewhere else before and then pay overs, which is madness for me.
“I did throw the little Malteser at Rangers saying ‘is this not somebody you could maybe look at? Get him in on loan with an option to buy, because it’s not going to happen here in the UK’.
“Rangers were set at that time with their recruitment and their signings, and the next minutes I seen him pop up at Napoli for £10million.”
Asked when he offered Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Rangers, Craig Moore was decidedly coy: “You are trying to get me into trouble. He was quite unknown and was an exciting player, and he is having a wonderful time. He has a huge, huge career ahead of him.”
Georgian winger inspires v Scotland
Rangers fans know Khvicha Kvaratskhelia very well from his time with Napoli, the winger having played against the club in the Champions League last season.
Whilst Kvaratskhelia didn’t play in Napoli’s 3-0 defeat of Rangers in Italy, the winger did play at Ibrox as the Italians ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in Glasgow as well.
With Khvicha earning links to the likes of Newcastle United, and reports of £82m interest, Kvaratskhelia continued his fine form with another two strikes against Scotland.
The immensely talented winger brought his remarkable international tally to 14 goals in 27 games with a brace in the eventual 2-2 Euro qualifying draw in Tbilisi.
The first was a sliding finish to slip the ball over Zander Clark from a low cross after only 15 minutes before Scott McTominay equalised four minutes into the second half.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) have scored more Euro 2024 qualifying goals (10) than the Manchester United midfielder (7).
Kvaratskhelia would then add his second of the game with a stunning strike cutting in off the left, the winger fired in low after running at a terrified Scotland defence.
Rangers-tipped Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland then popped up with a late equaliser for the Tartan Army, who have already qualified for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Whilst John Souttar was dropped from the Scotland squad due to injury, neither Ryan Jack or Robby McCrorie were involved in the game.
