Nathan Aspinall makes shock Rangers contract revelation

Nathan Aspinall reveals that he had a chance to join Rangers and Manchester United as a nine-year-old.

The professional darts player reveals that he wanted to be a footballer as a kid and was offered a contract to play for the Ibrox outfit.

He was a goalkeeper, a position that's currently occupied by Jack Butland and he will be missing the Celtic clash on 2 January. [Jonny McFarlane]

He told Sky Sports, as quoted by the Sun on 1 January: "I got scouted to play at the Manchester United goalkeeping Academy, it was a feeder club for Manchester United and other clubs.

"I got offered contracts for Rangers when I was nine, I played for Stockport County and had trials with them.

"Football was the way I wanted to go. Every kid wants to be a footballer.

"It didn't work out for me but I played at a semi-pro level and I'm now a professional darts player.

"If I was a little bit taller I could have made it. I got released because I was too small as a goalkeeper. I wasn't tall enough.

"I met Edwin van der Sar a couple of weeks ago and now I realise why I didn't make it, because he's about 19ft."

Rangers have always had an eye for quality next generation talent

Obviously, Aspinall made the right decision by not becoming a footballer as he's achieved success being a darts player.

He even reached a best ever ranking of world number 2 and there's no reason why he cannot reach the top.

Gers have been known to have some good youth recruitment and if United were also in, there's a good chance Aspinall showed plenty of promise at that age.

He could've become a footballer had he improved year on year at the academies of one of the best clubs but that will always be a "what if" moment.

Hopefully, Gers continue to work on landing the next big thing as there's every chance that they could have a multi-million talent on their hands in the academy.

While work continues on unearthing the next generation stars, there's work to be done on landing some quality first-team signings in January as well.

In other Rangers news, the agent of a player linked with a January Ibrox exit has issued an update on his future.

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