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The Serie A
outfit will register an inquiry in the Norwegian international with
the Ibrox hierarchy at their pre-season base in New Jersey.
Udinese have
bracketed Flo's name on a three-option shopping list which features
Carsten Jancker of Bayern Munich and his fellow German World Cup
star, Oliver Bierhoff.
Galatasaray
are also chasing Jancker, and Udinese may consider Flo a better
option if they can persuade Rangers to take an enormous hit on the
£12m paid to Chelsea in November 2000 in a Scottish transfer
record.
Giovanni van
Bronckhorst is the club record sale at £8.5m but, given the
Europe-wide football crash, it seems unlikely Rangers can hope for
much more than £7m for Flo.
But the benefit
for new chairman John McClelland would be in removing his £1.5m
annual wages from the Ibrox salary bill.
The 29-year-old
striker scored on his Old Firm debut but has not netted against
Celtic since. He has admitted himself that he failed too often on
the big occasion last season despite scoring 25 goals for Dick Advocaat
and Alex McLeish.
McLeish left
Flo out of his line-up for two Hampden matches against Celtic, and
the Rangers manager and his bosses have said often enough that players
must be sold before any new signings are made - with Mikel Arteta
having cost £6m.
Flo can sit
tight and collect his enormous wages in Glasgow, of course, with
Udinese unable to offer him European football in the new season
after missing relegation by a point in May.
New coach Luciano
Spalletti is now looking for a striking talisman and, although a
return to Udine for the club's most popular player, Bierhoff, may
appeal - because he is on a Bosman from Monaco - the German is now
34.
Parma made a
tentative inquiry about Flo a couple of months ago but did not follow
up their interest.
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