PLAYER PROFILE

Nacho Novo

Position: Forward

Height: 5'9

Weight: 11st 0lbs

Date of Birth: 1979-03-26 Ferrol, Spain

Nacho Novo

Nacho Novo ended lots of speculation about his future when he finally signed for Rangers in the summer of 2004 - becoming Alex McLeish's sixth summer signing.

Born in Northern Spain, he began his career with Huesca although was given his chance to impress in the Scottish League by Raith Rovers in 2001.

He was an instant hit and scored 20 goals in 37 appearances and it wasn't long before Dundee came calling. So, he signed for the Dark Blues for a nominal fee in the summer of 2002.

He scored 25 goals in his second season at Dens Park helping Dundee reach the first round of the UEFA Cup.

In a wonderful first season, he made 48 appearances and scored 25 goals, including the crucial winner against Hibernian which saw the SPL title return to Ibrox.

However, controversey was never too far away. In November, a death threat was painted near his house while in the previous month he had his tyres slashed.

On the pitch he recieved a red card in the SPL match at Hibs (although it was later reduced to a yellow) while he was subject to an SPL inquiry was launched after he appeared to kick out at Celtic's Jackie McNamara and Stephen Pearson in a fiery Old Firm derby in November. He recieved a one-match ban and 12 additional disciplinary points for his actions.

Despite this controversey, his accomplishments were rewarded with a nomination for the Players' Player of the Year award - although he eventually lost out to joint winners John Hartson and team-mate Fernado Ricksen.

Sadly for Novo, injury struck in 2005/06 and it wasn't until October 2006 that he found his scoring touch again after spending several months out of favour with Paul Le Guen.

Happilly for the Gers, Novo is now back on top form and is likely to shine in 2008/09.