NEW Rangers manager Dick Advocaat has admitted for the first time that he wants to buy #3.5m NAC Breda striker Archil Arveladze.
Advocaat was alleged to have made an enquiry for the Georgian internationalist at the beginning of this month, but this is the first time that his interest in the striker has been made public.
PSV Eindhoven defender Arthur Numan will be paraded in Scotland next week and Rangers chairman David Murray has indicated there will be another signing.
Now, on Dutch TV station NOS, the incoming Ibrox man-ager has admitted that the next signing could well be 25-year-old Arveladze.
Advocaat said: ''I am very interested in buying Arveladze. He is a very good player who is quick, strong and, technically, excellent.
''I now have to wait and see if my chairman concludes the deal.''
Arveladze, whose twin brother Shota has been in outstanding form for Ajax this season, is NAC Breda's top scorer.
He has netted 10 out of NAC's 36 goals in what has been a poor season for Pierre van Hooydonk's former club.
The striker has three years left of his contract, but has been told he can leave if the price is right.
Arveladze began his career in 1993 with Trabzonspor, where he scored eight goals in just 10 games.
He then had a short spell with Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia, where he scored an amazing 13 in just nine league games before moving back to the Turkish cracks along with his twin brother.
The striker netted 10 moregoals in 20 games in a three-year second spell in Trabzon.
After having impressed in the Dutch League, he is set to become one of Advocaat's new signings for Rangers' challenge next season.
Meanwhile, Rangers' out-of-favour Yugoslav player Gordan Petric has sent a ''come and get me'' appeal to English Premiership clubs.
The 28-year-old defender, who arrived for #1.5m from Dundee United three years ago, has spent much of this season on the sidelines while Walter Smith's side failed to win the title for the first time in a decade.
Even though Petric has relished his stay in Glasgow, he is now eager to move south of Hadrian's Wall.
''I'm happy with life at Rangers,'' he told a Belgrade Sports magazine.
''But if a serious offer came in for me from a big English club, I would be delighted to join them.
''I would sooner see myself playing in England rather than anywhere else in Europe.
''I am a big admirer of the pace and style of the English game.''
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