Some considered the £20

Some considered the £20.6m Roma paid Fiorentina to acquire the services of the Argentinian striker excessive for a 31-year-old but Batistuta has scored 10 goals in nine starts for Roma, whereas his compatriot, Hernan Crespo, who cost Lazio £35.7m from Parma, has suffered from injuries and managed just four.. Celtic are hoping to take the Tottenham defender Ramon Vega to Parkhead on a loan deal until the end of the season. Celtic are hoping to take the Tottenham defender Ramon Vega to Parkhead on a loan deal until the end of the season.
The 29-year-old Swiss international flew to Glasgow yesterday and manager Martin O’Neill was hoping to complete the paperwork in time for him to be included in the squad for this afternoon’s home game against Aberdeen.Vega’s current contract at White Hart Lane expires in the summer, but O’Neill has offered him a fresh chance with a view to a permanent deal.There are five games to be played before the winter break and O’Neill is determined to preserve the gap his team have established at the top of the Scottish Premier League. Injuries have left him a few bodies short and the out-of-favour Spurs defender would offer more defensive options.”We are basically taking his contract over and then what he does is really up to him,” O’Neill said. “But he is free to speak to anyone he wants in January and it is the little period before Christmas that is important to us.”After the break we will take it from there, but I just wanted a few extra bodies around.”. When Dundee travelled the 130 miles to Kilmarnock last season, few outside the City of Discovery were interested.

Today, though, Rugby Park will be the focus of attention in Buenos Aires and Brisbane as much as Broughty Ferry – thanks to Claudio Caniggia. When Dundee travelled the 130 miles to Kilmarnock last season, few outside the City of Discovery were interested. Today, though, Rugby Park will be the focus of attention in Buenos Aires and Brisbane as much as Broughty Ferry – thanks to Claudio Caniggia.
The one-time golden boy of Argentinian football has made television stars out of less celebrated colleagues such as Barry Smith and Gavin Rae. These days, Dundee’s players not only check the listings to see if their game will be on the box, they twiddle with t heir satellite dials.The American-owned cable network ESPN is screening the Kilmarnock-Dundee match live in Latin America, Australia and the Far East. Ivano Bonetti’s players are almost becoming blasé about the interest: this is their fifth live game in two months They are undoubtedly the supporting cast. The one at the top of the bill for fans around the globe is Caniggia.The man whose goals in a semi-final against Italy took Argentina to the 1990 World Cup final, is still big news, even at 33. The trademark headband remains, but as Caniggia showed in last Sunday night’s match with Celtic, the legs remain fresh even if the hairstyle has dated.Since Caniggia was persuaded by Bonetti, the former Sampdoria midfielder who is Dundee’s player-manager, to swap his more habitual environment of Rome’s Olympic Stadium or the Monumental in Buenos Aires, for the country comforts of Dens Park, the club has never been the same.His mere presence has stirred massive interest around the world.

Caniggia fever is such that Dundee have been swamped by television crews from England, Italy and Argentina as the clamour rises to glimpse the man who graced the 1990 World Cup final.The Dundee director, Jim Connor, said: “The interest has simply been phenomenal. Everyone wants a piece of us.” Bonetti’s signing of Caniggia has put Dundee on the map, as far as the world’s media are concerned. Few know about the fact that the club were last crowned Scottish champions in 1962, or lost out on a place in the 1963 European Cup final, despite beating Milan in the home leg of their semi-final.But the arrival of Caniggia, famous for his goals but notorious after his one-year ban for taking drugs in 1993 while playing for Roma, has meant that Dens Park has taken on a new and cosmopolitan air.Connor reels off a list of media visitors. “In Claudio’s first week, Sky Sports were here, Grandstand came up as did On The Ball, while we have also had camera crews from Rai Uno and RMC in Italy and an Argentinian satellite station and documentary crew from Channel 4.” Connor also revealed that Caniggia’s presence had clinched a deal for the SPL club to go to South America in the winter break and play against Argentina’s big two, Boca Juniors and River Plate in a four-club tournament.Critics of Bonetti’s cosmopolitan signing spree – there are three six Italians, three Argentinians and a Georgian – have speculated that Dundee will be bled dry by the increased wage bill, especially Caniggia’s, which is reported to be £15,000 a week.However, Connor points out that the new sources of revenue that the club are tapping into, as well as a rise in attendances at Dens Park, mean that sum should be met.”His home debut with Motherwell was the first time in our history we ever had to make that fixture all-ticket. That kind of interest will be maintained for the rest of the season.