Rangers UEFA Cup hero Carlos Cuellar has revealed a transfer return to Ibrox collapsed despite being a "done deal".
The Spanish centre-back won Player of the Year for Rangers in his single season in Glasgow in 2007/08.
Cuellar - who lifted the Scottish Cup and League Cup at the club - also helped Walter Smith's side reach the final of the UEFA Cup, losing to Zenit St Petersburg in the final.
Now, the 43-year-old has opened up on a near return to Rangers three years later as he had agreed to a move back to Ibrox in 2011.
The defender was wanted by a host of clubs but was keen on a return to Rangers from Aston Villa - where he was told he would not be involved.
However, despite the deal being all but done, the move never materialised due to an injury suffered by the stopper.
He told The Scottish Sun: "I wanted to go back. But the problem was, in this summer, I got injured in my knee.
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"It wasn't a big injury. It was the meniscus but I had to be like two months out.
"Alex McLeish was the Villa manager and he told me I was not going to be an important player for him, he was looking for another kind of player, like is normal in football.
"I got the knee injury and I didn't move.
"In the beginning, other teams come and Rangers came in. The problem was that Rangers had to wait one and a half months for me to play.
"They were playing in Europe and they needed a centre-back for the moment, they couldn't wait that much because they were fighting for Europe and starting the league.
"That's why I didn't go. If I was fit, I was going the next day because the deal was done.
