South Americans leave their mark

Scotland’s gift of the game to Argentina is well-known.

But Argentina has also left its footprint on football in Scotland.

Prior to the 1990s very few overseas players had played in Scotland and among the first to arrive become a by-word for a duff foreign signing.

The not-very-aptly-named Explosive One Walter Rojas joined Dundee United in August 1991 for a minimal fee from San Lorenzo.

United had apparently beaten off a host of clubs including Sampdoria and Foggia for the Argentine’s signature.

He was supposed to be a tricky winger but trialist Rojas turned out to be a damp squib and was never offered a deal.

More successful was Victor Ferreyra who scored eight times during his 35 appearances at Dundee United and Gabriel Amato who scored 13 goals in 45 appearances for Rangers after signing for £4.2m.

Following Amato came the highest-profile signing of them all in 1990 and 1994 World Cup hero Claudio Caniggia, who sensationally joined Dundee in October 2000.

The huge demand for Dundee shirts with his name on the back left the club at a standstill as they ran out of letters.

He did his talking on the pitch with important goals in big games including a derby win at Tannadice where he famously pulled pints for Dundee fans in the pub afterwards.

Suddenly Dundee games were being shown live across the world and Diego Maradona was ready to jump on a plane to play for the Dark Blues.

Caniggia had vowed to bring his close friend and fellow countryman to the club when he arrived in Dundee.

There was written correspondence between Maradona, his representatives and Dundee, which outlined both parties’ desire for Maradona to play in a one-off glamour friendly against his former club Napoli at Dens Park.

The glamour friendly “evaporated” after Maradona got involved in a row about a tax bill in Naples.

Caniggia eventually left Dundee to sign for Rangers in the summer of 2001 after just one season.

The likes of Fabian Caballero, Beto Carranza, Juan Sara and Julian Speroni also enjoyed spells at Dens Park in the early 2000s.