I refused to join Rangers but my dad wanted to PUNCH me if I didn’t agree transfer, Italy legend Gennaro Gattuso says
RINO GATTUSO has revealed his father threatened to punch him if he didn’t sign for Rangers as a kid because of the money on offer.
The Italian World Cup winner, who recently managed Valencia, was famously brought to Ibrox by the late Walter Smith in 1997, before he 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.
And, in an interview in Spain, he admitted had no intention of signing for Rangers as a 17-year-old, until the intervention of his father.
He recalled: “I didn’t want to go to Glasgow. I had played two games in Serie B and was promoted to Serie A with Perugia, where I played eight games without a contract. Then I played the Under 19s Finals with Italy.
“One day my father comes and tells me that a representative of Glasgow Rangers has come to town and has offered a contract to me.
“I didn’t want to leave and I told this to my father.
“He told me that the money they were offering was so much he couldn’t even write down the total figure. He told me it was four times his total earnings in his lifetime.
“When I still said no, he said he would punch me if I didn’t accept it, so I signed for Rangers!”
“I went to Glasgow and I didn’t know anyone and didn’t have two words in English.
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“But after two weeks, I looked more Scottish than a Scottish player. I trained three or four times a day, I would go to the gym for hours.
“I built myself up with this mentality. I knew I didn’t have great technique, but I prepared myself to mentally kill my opponent. I have dedicated my life to football.”
In total Gattuso featured in 49 Rangers games – starting 36 after the contractual wrangle with Perugia.
He scored five goals including his first in the UEFA Cup against Strasbourg and despite developing a reputation as a firebrand midfielder, he was never sent off in Scotland – but did amass 12 yellow cards.