Italian superagent Andrea D'Amico has revealed how Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones played a role in the transfer of Rino Gattuso from Rangers back to his homeland. The World Cup winner was brought to Ibrox by Walter Smith in 1997, but was shipped out to Salernitana a year later in a £4 million deal because Dick Advocaat didn't rate him.
From there, he went on to move to AC Milan and won two Champions Leagues, two Serie A titles and that 2006 World Cup with his country. D'Amico was a young, struggling agent back then and he revealed the unusual story of how the transfer of Gattuso helped him build his profile...with a little help from the original James Bond and the famous Hollywood actress.
He recalled: "I was a very good friend of the former president of Glasgow Rangers, David Murray. In 1998 he told me that the manager no longer wanted Gattuso in the team and could I negotiate a transfer? I didn't even know him. I met Rino at the Hilton in Glasgow and in 30 days I transferred him to Salernitana and after six months to Milan, with whom he won everything.
"But it was a thrilling negotiation. Murray gave me an appointment at his villa on the island of Jersey. His friend Sean Connery came to open the door for me. He was a great lover of Italy and agent 007 insisted on making me coffee. And in the afternoon, Catherine Zeta-Jones arrived, because she was filming the movie Entrapment with Sean. So the transfer negotiations for Gattuso were done with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones!"
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