Rangers have seen many players make the move to Ibrox on loan deals over the years, with some only staying temporarily at the Gers and others eventually joining on permanent deals.
Looking back down the years, it seems as though Rangers were on the hunt for one potential loan signing that could have become one of the club’s best-ever players in Glasgow.
According to former Rangers boss Alex McLeish, his assistant coach at Ibrox Jan Wouters was searching for a ball-playing midfielder in 2004 to come in to replace Barry Ferguson after he left for Blackburn Rovers.
Speaking further on the matter, McLeish said: “Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was [Frank] Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona. Jan asked if there was anybody we could get and was told about a young kid called [Andres] Iniesta.
“He was only 18 at the time. We asked if we could bring him to Scotland and were told that they would try and make some hay at Barcelona and get him over to us. They said Iniesta needed to get some action.”
“The Monday after Jan had made the call, Iniesta was moved into the first team. When Henk ten Cate got back to us, we asked about Iniesta and were told: ‘He’s in the first team squad now’.”
During his time in Barcelona’s first-team, the Spaniard racked up 57 goals and 138 assists in 674 appearances across all competitions, winning a plethora of domestic and European titles as well as various individual awards and international titles.
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In the summer of 2018, the midfield maestro left his boyhood club for a new challenge in Japan with Vissel Kobe, where he has scored 25 goals and provided 23 assists in 108 appearances.
Overall, the Barcelona legend, who has been described as being a “complete” footballer by Vicente del Bosque as well as being “like Harry Potter” in terms of his creative abilities on the pitch by Luis Enrique, has a total of 243 goals and assists to his name throughout his senior playing career.
Having become one of the most-decorated players for club and country, it’s safe to say that McLeish and the club as a whole had a howler over not being able to secure Iniesta’s signature before Barcelona decided to keep hold of him.
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