Ally McCoist reveals the Luka Modric fee Rangers baulked at as Ibrox hero can't shake transfer regret

Anguished Ally McCoist claims Rangers could have landed Luka Modric for a transfer snip 15 years ago but they couldn't afford to do a deal.

The club hero was sent on a scouting mission to check out Vedran Corluka - who would also go on to join Tottenham with his compatriot in 2018.

McCoist was tasked with profiling the right-back but was left waxing lyrical to Walter Smith about the diminutive playmaker pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

But any deal for Rangers to land one of the greatest midfielders in football history was kiboshed due to the club's budget.

Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: "I went to Zagreb to watch it, big derby game.

Get all the latest Rangers news sent straight to your Inbox every day by signing up to our newsletter.

We cover every morsel of information regarding your favourite club in the form of articles, videos and podcasts.

The newsletter will arrive every day at 12pm, giving you a round up of the best stories we've covered that in the last 24 hours.

To sign up, simply enter your email address into the link here.

And if you aren't already, make sure you join the conversation over on our Rangers Facebook group and Record Sport Instagram.

"Walter phoned me after the game and said 'what do you think?', I said they've got a wee boy in the middle of the park, he is absolutely outrageous.

"See how much money we have got, I think we could have got him, at that time, for about £3.5m, we didn't have the money."

And sparring partner Alan Brazil was quick as a flash in response.

He joked: "Thank god you didnae."

McCoist responded: "Aw, Al, we didnae have the money, I said how much, about £3.5m, he (Walter) said we couldn't afford it.

"What a football player."