Rangers have now agreed terms with the Brazilian striker, Christian, in a deal which will cost the club $10m in a transfer fee - something just over #6m - and will create yet another spending record for the Ibrox club.
I understand that the player's agent, who seemed to have placed the negotiations in danger 10 days ago, met the Rangers chairman David Murray in
Edinburgh last week while the Ibrox club was in Israel playing their UEFA Cup game against Beitar Jerusalem.
At that meeting the fee for the player's sale was agreed, the salary on offer was agreed, and the length of the contract was determined.
All that has still to be done is for the Dutch coach Dick Advocaat to see the player perform and yesterday at an Ibrox press
conference, he suggested that he might be in Brazil to watch the striker on the weekend that
Scotland are involved in a European Championship game against Estonia at Tynecastle.
''That may be the time when I can go to watch him,'' said Advocaat yesterday, ''but I must wait to see what is happening. We are looking at players in Europe, too, because we cannot just look for the present.''
I believe, though, that
Advocaat will be in Brazil on that weekend and his final say so will determine whether the record-breaking deal is completed. However, while Advocaat did not elaborate on the hunt for Christian, I know that his chief scout, Ewen Chester, has been to South America to assess the 22-year-old, who is set to make a breakthrough into the Brazilian national side to partner Ronaldo up front.
Chester's report will be studied by the Rangers coach and then he will make the journey to South America himself to finalise the deal if he is happy with the player's performance. It seems that Christian will now be a Rangers' player soon - and unlike Jardel, the front man now with Porto, whom Rangers did try to sign two years ago - he has no problems over eligibility. Like many Brazilian players he possesses a
Portuguese passport which allows him freedom of employment in the European Union.
Suggestions that the deal was dead in the water have now gone. Murray's top-level talks in Edinburgh have ironed out any problems and if Advocaat likes what he sees then Christian will be at Ibrox to strengthen the strike force which has been a problem for the Glasgow side this season so far.
Tonight, Rangers will be at
Pittodrie and it will be this morning before Advocaat will be able to name his team for the difficult fixture. After the weekend Old Firm game he found himself with further injury worries, now
concerning Sergio Porrini and Colin Hendry, as well as Andrei Kanchelskis, who broke his wrist.
His long-term problems remain, with Arthur Numan,
Gordon Durie, Jonas Thern, and Daniel Prodan all unavailable.
Says Advocaat: ''This is a very difficult period for us because of the number of games you play here in Scotland but we have to be ready for these games. I know that Aberdeen are a team who see this match as being a very big game and that they raise themselves for it but players at Rangers always realise that every team does this.
''It may be special for them but we have to be prepared and we have to hope that Gabriel Amato gets a little change of luck and if he can score a goal then his
confidence will be helped.
''But we cannot talk about a team until tomorrow when we see how Colin Hendry and Sergio Porrini have responded to treatment. ''
Hendry has a foot injury - just a simple kick he collected on Sunday - while Porrini has a hamstring injury which troubled him during the Old Firm game. They could both be fit. As for the absence of Kanchelskis, Advocaat will look at Jonathan Johansson and Rino Gattuso and decide on which player will fit into the required role most effectively. He admits: ''I was happy with the way the team played on Sunday and I do not wish to make too many changes to the line-up.''
The young midfielder Barry Ferguson added: ''We need a win after the two draws we picked up. It is important because we all know that if we had been able to beat Celtic then we would have been five points clear of them this early in the season.
''I honestly believe that Gabriel Amato will start scoring goals soon. I felt sorry for him on Sunday but he will get goals. I know that. This won't be easy but we have to try to get a win even though we all know that Aberdeen will be up for this one no mater how their form has been in the last few games.''
At Aberdeen things are different. Manager Alex Miller will alter his team after the disappointment of the weekend defeat from St Johnstone. He is far from happy with the way the season has changed for his team and he says: ''Win, lose or draw the most important thing for the players is that we restore some self-belief. They have lost that in recent games and we have to get it back.
''What we need is the same
attitude we had against Celtic when we beat them here at Pittodrie. If we beta Rangers then we will be sitting on the same points as them and that will be important for us.
''We cannot allow ourselves to be over-awed by them. If we give them too much space then we shall be giving ourselves trouble.''
Club captain Derek Whyte added: ''We are all ready for this and we know that to be challenging for honours these are the games we should win. We were able to beat Celtic and now we have to get the same result against Rangers. This is a very big night for the players and we shall show the supporters what we can do.''
BOOKIES' VIEW: Aberdeen - 3-1, Rangers - 4-5, draw - 9-4
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