Pedro Mendes has opened up on how a trip to London with his wife ended up in him packing his bags once again and heading for Rangers.
The Portuguese midfielder completed a £3million move from Portsmouth back in 2008 on a three-year deal. As soon as he got the call to say the Glasgow giants were in for him there was only ever one outcome. He got the big news on the Wednesday, was on a flight to Glasgow by the Friday and then after a quick jog around the training base he was handed a full debut against Hearts at Ibrox the following day in a quick-fire start to life at his new club.
It was a winning start and his new team-mates took him out to celebrate as he made a 'don't kill me on my first night' quip as the beer flowed. He told Grosvenor Sport : “The story of how signed for Rangers is unbelievable. I took my wife to London on the Tuesday for a couple of days as we were not due to train until Thursday. On Wednesday I got a phone call saying ‘Pedro, Rangers are in for you, what do you think?’ and I had quick look to see what was happening there and I said to my wife ‘I think we have to pack again’. She was never happy when we had to pack!
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"I knew immediately – great club, great fan base, great facilities and it was going to be a great challenge so I said let’s go – fight for the title, fight for the Champions League, it all made sense.
"Then I was on a flight to Glasgow on Friday morning, I did the medical which was fine, a quick jog around the pitch at the training ground and then I was in the team the next day at Ibrox and played the full 90 minutes against Hearts.
"The players took me out after we won 2-0 and I was still sipping my first beer and there were another three thrown in front of me! I said ‘Don’t kill me on my first night’."
Mendes loved his time at Rangers and wasn't happy about leaving when he did - but knew he had to in order to boost his World Cup chances with Portugal.
He added: “I wanted to play at the World Cup and I felt if I move to Sporting I would have a better chance of making the squad and that’s what happened. I played every game in 2010 in South Africa and it was a dream come true.
"I think I had been left out unfairly before that but I knew I had to leave Scottish football to have a better chance.
"I wasn’t happy to leave Rangers because they were a huge club but I knew that players in La Liga or Serie A would be picked [for Portugal] ahead of me.
"I think now it’s different. People have seen Rangers beat Porto and Braga in Europe so they know that Scottish football is different now."
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