Ecuador World Cup ace Jeremy Sarmiento could have signed for Rangers
ECUADOR World Cup star Jeremy Sarmiento's father has revealed his son could have signed for Rangers when he was a youngster.
The Brighton winger was eligible to play for Spain, England and Ecuador and chose to play for the South American nation and was called up for the Qatar tournament.
He arrived at Premier League high-fliers Brighton last year after spells at Charlton Athletic as a kid and Benfica.
But his dad Leonel revealed the 20-year-old could have signed for the Ibrox club after he was offered a contract from Rangers when he was younger.
He said: "We moved to London when he was seven and he played a lot of street football there.
"When he was older, he got noticed and he had four offers of contracts from clubs - Chelsea, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace and Rangers.
"He wanted to stay in London and signed for Charlton.
"He had the opportunity to play Under 19s for Ecuador, Spain and England. I always told him he would play in a World Cup one day.
"And he has managed it with Ecuador - my country."
Ecuador kick off the World Cup later today when they play against host nation Qatar.
Meanwhile, Rangers legend Graeme Souness has claimed Celtic have got away with some "interesting" VAR calls.
Souness told BBC Radio Scotland: "They [Rangers] have lost the games against Celtic which puts them [Celtic] in a very good position.
"But they [Celtic] have got away with a couple of very interesting VAR decisions.
"It could have been a very different story if they had gone against them."
With a huge upsurge in the amount of penalties being awarded across the board, Souness reckons all VAR is EMBARRASSING a lot of referees.
He said: "I work in television and you hear people talking about VAR as if it's a big computer in a room next door that cannot make a mistake.
"All VAR is, is technology which allows you to look at the game through many different angles.
"When it first came out we went to Stockley Park as a Sky pundit, there was ten different examples of what we would call here, we all got nine right.
"I'm an ex-player, there is a role for ex-players and VAR because VAR is a tool to make life easier for referees and the referees are being embarrassed by it.
"I'll say it, some of them are just not very good, their calls are terrible.
"It's the same in England and I'm sure that it's the same elsewhere.
"Hopefully in the World Cup with the semi-automated VAR, it will help them but VAR is a tool to help referees make fewer mistakes and it has done the exact opposite. It has embarrassed a lot of referees."
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