Daniel Prodan
Footballer
Born: March 23, 1972;
Died: November 16, 2016
Daniel Prodan, who has died of a heart attack aged 44, was a Romanian footballer who was at the centre of one of the most infamous transfer deals in the history of Scottish football when joined Rangers from Atletico Madrid in 1998. The deal was worth £2.2million but in fact Prodan had a serious knee injury and did not play once for Rangers' first team in the entire two and a half years he was with the club.
Capped 54 times, he played at the 1994 World Cup and at Euro 96.
Prodan was 26 when he joined Rangers from Atletico Madrid for £2.2m in 1998, but a knee injury prevented him from making a single first-team appearance.
It was later revealed the signing was completed without a medical examination, and Prodan left after two and a half years in Glasgow.
He had won five successive titles with Steaua Bucharest before moving to Madrid, where he spent one season with Atletico.
Prodan took up a sporting director role with the Romanian Football Federation following his retirement at the age of 31.
Former Finland forward Jonatan Johansson was at Rangers at the same time as Prodan and said on Twitter: "So sad and shocked that Daniel Prodan has passed away. Great team mate, such a positive and fun loving person."
Professor W Stewart Hillis
had a less successful spell as club doctor for a season at Rangers FC in the late 1990s where he blamed himself for not realising that expensive import Daniel Prodan of Romania was more badly injured than was first thought, though in truth there was considerable falsification of medical records involved in the £2.2 million transfer.
Rangers spent £2.2m to get him from Atletico Madrid when he had a knee like a rotten apple. The perception took hold that this was Hillis's fault. In fact, what Rangers did not realise at the time was that they were sent documents which falsified and underplayed the state of Prodan's knee. Sir David Murray was so fixed on rushing the deal through Hillis was not given the time to do the usual checks. "Mr Murray said to me 'there's a press conference in 45 minutes'."
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