Back in 2003, Rangers’ situation was a bit different to what it is today, with Celtic far closer to a title challenge than they were now.
Then again, Steven Gerrard wasn’t in charge at Ibrox, and they didn’t have James Tavernier and Kemar Roofe smashing in goals left, right and centre.
There was a need for someone extra who could regularly find the back of the net, and the club turned to Italy.
With a career spanning from 1993 to 2012, Arturo Di Napoli could have travelled the world as a footballer, but fate had him stay in his home country throughout.
Playing for the likes of Napoli, Inter, Empoli, Palermo, Messina and Piacenza, the striker was relatively prolific wherever he went, and it did catch the eye of foreign clubs.
Rangers were among those, with the club interested in bringing the forward to Ibrox back in January 2003.
Asked about the time he terminated his contract with Palermo before moving to Messina, the now manager corrected them.
He said: “Actually, I first tried to move abroad to Glasgow, but the economic offer from Rangers was not satisfactory. Then I tried to go to Istanbul at Lucescu’s Galatasaray, but I didn’t like the city. So, after a few days, I returned to Italy and signed for Messina.
“We were an excellent team, with an enthralling fanbase. In the record year at the San Filippo stadium, there was practically a full house at every home game. Out of a capacity of 42,000 seats, 24,000 were occupied by season ticket holders. The maximum that could be done”.
It seems he doesn’t regret the failed to Rangers all that much, but it does show that the opportunity to go abroad was there.
He just chose to stay in Italy instead, clearly just exploring his options, which didn’t turn out to be as appealing as he first thought.
