Serbian defender Rade Dugalic admits he's gutted a move to Rangers fell through and he still doesn't know why.
The 30-year-old stopper almost signed for the Ibrox side a few years ago under Steven Gerrard and current Ibrox boss Michael Beale, who was an assistant at the time. Dugalic, a 6ft 4in former Radnicki Nis star, was playing in the Russian top flight with FC Tosno at the time, when Rangers tried to sign him in a shock move.
And Dugalic, who now plays in China with Meizhou Hakka after a stint with Kairat Almaty, admits he would have loved to play for Rangers. He said: “Yes, there was an opportunity to play for Rangers. They were very interested in me. I was waiting for the situation in Scotland to be resolved, but for whatever reason, it dragged on for too long. I was so desperate to sign I even got in touch with John Arne Riise, who was friends with Gerrard, to see if he could help push the deal through.
"So many people tried to get this deal to Rangers done, but it fell through and I never got to go to Glasgow. To this day, I have never had an explanation why. I still have all the messages on my phone! I do regret not signing for Rangers. But I think I have had a pretty good career anyway."
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