Believe it or not, Mario Jardel almost signed for Rangers on four separate occasions - well before he moved to Bolton and looked a shadow of his former self. The first move came around in 1996, when a move was agreed from Gremio. He met with the team and the club's fans, but the deal fell apart as he was refused a Portuguese passport that would have allowed the club to get round their full non-EU quota. A year later, Jardel was given his EU passport and wanted the move, but instead Walter Smith decided to buy Marco Negri instead, whose career was all but ended by an eye injury endured in a squash match after scoring 23 goals in his first 10 Rangers games. Jumping ahead to 2001, Jardel was again offered to the club, having scored 22 goals in 24 games for Galatasaray, but Rangers said no to the £12m price tag and proceeded to instead buy Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea. For £12m. And finally, two years later, having scored 53 goals in 49 games for Sporting Lisbon, he was offered to Rangers for £2m, but they couldn't afford him - mostly thanks to Flo - and he went to Bolton, where he looked remarkably like a player who'd never set foot on a pitch before.
