CLAUDIO CANIGGIA FOR RANGERS?

REPORTS linking Claudio Caniggia with a move to Ibrox may seem fanciful in the extreme but, with Rangers trailing their archrivals Celtic by 13 points in the championship race and with £12m Tore Andre Flo still vying to justify his price tag, there may be an element of truth in the rumour. Opta have taken a look at the stats to see whether the Argentine is the man Dick Advocaat has been missing this season.

Ivano Bonetti's revolution on Tayside has seen an influx of foreign stars at Dens Park this season, but none caught the imagination more than the signing of Caniggia in October. The Argentine striker has plied his talents at some of the top clubs across Europe and South America, and the thought of attracting him to Dundee must have seemed like a pipe dream only a year ago. With six goals to his name already this term and a string of outstanding personal performances, Caniggia has dispelled any thoughts that his heart would not be in the Scottish game. By signing an extension to his contract that will keep him at Dens into 2003, it seems that the hairy hit man is here to stay. However, with Rangers reportedly showing an interest, he may be swapping shades of blue in the near future.

A meeting between Dundee and Rangers just two weeks ago gave Light Blues supporters a first hand view of the talent of Caniggia, and the talismanic striker did not let anyone down. Almost every time he touched the ball the South American gave The 'Gers defence the run around with his sublime skill, completing five of his six dribbles and earning a penalty with one such run. His season's tally for dribbles so far stands at 59, of which he has completed 31% - only Billy Dodds of Rangers' current strikers has a better success rate than this, but his 40% comes from just 10 attempts.

In terms of shooting, Caniggia remains one of the most accurate strikers of the ball hitting the target with 63% of his efforts. This score is superior to even Celtic's Henrik Larsson and it is interesting to note that none of the Rangers forward line have a record to match this.

Despite recording a chance conversion ratio of 19% that is currently inferior to any recognised striker at Rangers this season, Caniggia clearly represents more than just an out and out goal scorer. With 17 scoring opportunities carved out by his passing, the creative side to Caniggia's game marks him out as more of a threat in this area than any other Ibrox forward. Compared to last season, it is fair to say that the Rangers forward line has been misfiring this term, and part of the reason for this may be the lack of a creative forward to aid the promptings from midfield.

If Caniggia did complete a move to Ibrox, the Glasgow outfit would be gaining a player of vast experience and undoubted skill. With the persistent injury problems suffered by Mols and the apparently imminent departure of Dodds in the summer, Advocaat could do a lot worse than pursue his reported interest in the king of the Tayzurri