Arthur Numan 5, Defender

Born: Heemskerk (Netherlands) 14/12/1969

Arthur Numan probably knows Rangers manager Dick Advocaat better than most. He has played for him at three different clubs.

Numan was a young left winger at Haarlem in 1988 when he was persuaded by Advocaat that he should move to left back.

Advocaat's foresight paid off as Numan became a Dutch international and one of the best players in Europe in that position.

Numan, in fact, arrived at Rangers just two weeks after playing for Holland in the 1998 World Cup.

His future Ibrox team-mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst was also in the Dutch squad which reached the semi-finals.

Numan was signed for £4.5 million from P.S.V. Eindhoven where he also played under Advocaat.

He had been at P.S.V. for six years and was part of Advocaat's team that won the Dutch League and Cup double in 1996.

Numan also played for FC Twente before joining P.S.V.

He made his Rangers debut in the 2-0 UEFA Cup victory over Shelbourne and rounded off a fine performance by winning the sponsor's man of the match award.

Throughout the first half of the 1998-99 season, Numan proved himself to be an influential player. But he was forced out of action after chipping an ankle bone in the 1-0 win over Kilmarnock just before Christmas.

The ankle did not respond to treatment and in February Numan had an operation and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Numan said: "It's a very bad ankle injury, one of the worst a footballer can get.

"It will take three or four months to recover so all I can do is look forward to the start of next season."

Numan did make a return but he damaged his hamstring early in the season and was forced to sit out again as Rangers tried to secure a Champions' League place.

He returned for the home draw with Bayern Munich, but lasted only four games before injury struck again, this time against Dundee in early October.

But that only kept him out for two weeks as he returned in late October.

Numan scored his first goal for the club in the 5-0 win over Aberdeen, having missed from the penalty spot earlier in the season against Borussia Dortmund. He qickly went on to follow up this with his second strike against St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup the following week.

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