Alex McLeish has revealed what happened behind the scenes when Rangers signed Mikel Arteta, who is now the Arsenal manager.

The Spaniard moved to Ibrox in 2002 for a staggering £6million fee, which was pretty high at that time.

Prior to this, he shone for Barcelona’s academy and also spent 18 months on loan at Paris Saint-Germain.

PSG wanted to keep him at the club beyond his spell, but he returned to Barcelona before joining Rangers.

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McLeish was the manager when the Ibrox outfit signed the then-Spanish teenager for big money.

He had taken over the reins from Dick Advocaat, who was in charge from 1998 to 2001.

However, McLeish has revealed that he did not even see Arteta play before the club spent such a huge transfer fee on him.

In the early 2000s, there were no scouting platforms and limited scouting networks, which is why managers themselves had to look at players in action.

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The former Gers boss was told by David Murray, who was the chairman, that Advocaat liked him and that the money was there to sign him.

So McLeish sent his assistant Andy Watson to take a look, and once...