The Squad > Midfielders > Andrei Kanchelskis

Brief Player Report:
Andrei Kanchelskis became Rangers' record signing when the pacy midfielder was bought for £5.5 million from Italian Serie A side Fiorentina in July 1998.

Kanchelskis was born in Kirovograd in the Ukraine and at 15 was sent to a school for gifted footballers. He returned to play local football where he was spotted by Dinamo Kiev. He spent most of his time in the reserves, however, and in 1988 joined Shakhtyor Donetsk, the team he had supported as a boy.

Within a year he had been capped by the Soviet Union, coming on as a substitute against Poland in August 1989.

He was signed by Alex Ferguson for Manchester United after a Norwegian advertising executive sent videos of Kanchelskis to Old Trafford. Ferguson checked him out in an international match against Germany and paid £650,000 for him in March 1991. He made his debut in May against Crystal Palace.

Kanchelskis won two Premier League Championships with United, in 1992-93 and 1993-94, and was part of the latter season's Double winning team with a 4-0 FA Cup Final victory at over Chelsea at Wembly. He also won the League Cup when United beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 in 1992.

Despite injury problems, Kanchelskis finished the 1994-95 campaign as United's top scorer with 15 goals in all competitions. But, after a dispute with the club, he was transferred to Everton for £5 million in August 1995.

He scored 16 goals in his first season at Goodison and played for Russia in Euro 96. In January 1997, Fiorentina paid £8 million to take him to Italy.

He made his Rangers debut in the 2-0 UEFA Cup victory over Shelbourne at Ibrox in July 1998 and scored his first goal in the next round in the 2-0 victory over PAOK Salonika.

He continued to be a fixture on the right side of midfield in Dick Advocaat's preferred 4-4-2 formation. He weighed in with nine goals including a spectacular volley against Dunfermline in his first season.

However an injury sustained in the Championship run in meant he missed most of the team's pre-season work and consequently didn't figure in Rangers early games of the 1999-2000 season.

He made his comeback in the 1-0 away at Hibs at the end of August.

Please note these player pages only get updated every so often this page was last updated 31/05/00

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