RANGERS, already on course for the domestic double of premier division championship and Scottish Cup, are involved in negotiations to bring the Juventus captain, Gianluca Vialli, to Ibrox next season.

In what is probably the boldest transfer move yet by the Glasgow club, Vialli, who helped orchestrate the two-game demolition of the Scottish champions in the European Cup this season, has been targeted as Rangers continue to aim for a place in European football's elite band of clubs.

The Italian internationalist, who cost Juventus a staggering #12m four years ago when he joined them from Sampdoria, is a free agent at the end of this season. He hopes to bow out with a winning appearance in the European Cup final in Rome next month then he claims that he intends to end his career in Britain.

Until now, most observers of the European scene have simply accepted that the player has meant English football and Arsenal have been widely linked with possible signing moves. Now, however, Rangers have made their own move with a deal which would be worth close to #6m to the player for a three-year contract.

It is understood that preliminary talks have taken place between the player's advisers and the Ibrox side and a possible deal has been hammered out.

It is one which would make Vialli the highest-paid player in Britain - earning more than Arsenal's David Platt, who collects around #1.6m a year, but who cost Arsenal an additional #5m in a transfer fee. The sting for Rangers, of course, post-Bosman, is that there will be no transfer fee to be paid to the current Italian champions.

In essence, signing Vialli for a three-year period would cost less than the investment they made in Paul Gascoigne last summer - and that is one which has, so far, given Rangers a massive pay-off.

There is little doubt that Rangers, given the increase in the size of the stadium for next season, will be able to up the ante yet again in their constant quest for glory at home and in Europe.

Indeed, a financial package for Vialli over a single year would not come near the amount which Rangers chairman David Murray makes available to his manager, Walter Smith, each close season.

Vialli will be 32 in the summer but his coach at Juventus, Marcello Lippi, has insisted this season that he has been the inspiration for the club in their European campaign, which has them poised to reach the final.

The individual performance he provided in the second leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid in Turin's Stadio Delle Alpi was stunning in both its virtuosity and its commitment.

Vialli's leadership gave Juventus the Serie A championship last season and now, with Ajax a goal behind against the Greek champions Panathinaikos and facing a dangerous trip to Athens for the second leg, their support believe that a European Cup will belong to them next month.

But Vialli has made it plain that he will not remain much longer in Turin and it seems likely that his next destination could be Ibrox. He knows the club - he has played against them this season, of course, - but he was a youngster at Sampdoria when Graeme Souness played with the Italian club. I can recall Souness telling me: ``Vialli looked after my training gear when he first arrived at the club.''

He must recognise that Souness was a success when he came to Glasgow and also that Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne, both happy fugitives from the pressures of Serie A, have also found success and contentment with Rangers.

These examples will influence his thinking when he has to arrive at the decision on his future.

One Italian source said last night: ``Vialli thought that only a top English club could look at the kind of deal he wants - but Rangers have done more than that. They look favourites now to sign him.''

At the moment Vialli earns around #1.2m a year with Juventus but, as Bosman bites, Rangers are going to top that to make the Italian the highest paid player in the United Kingdom and one of the top earners in Europe.

It is a frightening prospect for the rest of Scottish football who must try to keep up with the relentless ambitions of Murray, who seems determined to push Rangers into the highest strata of European club football.

As well as the Italian, Rangers have also been linked strongly with Ajax right back Michael Reizeger, another player whose contract ends in June.

The high-spending transfer days may be over and Gascoigne's arrival last close season for #4.3m is likely to be the last multi-million pound deal Smith will make.

But the signings will go on and if they are successful in landing Vialli then Rangers will have made it plain their ambitions lie well beyond the confines of the domestic game.

It will simply be a further indication that a European league is on the horizon.