'Almost unplayable' - Dundee cult hero Fabian Caballero's talents can be measured by man who replaced him

It is of course untrue to say that if Fabian Caballero was not injured against Dundee United in September 2000, we may never have heard of Claudio Caniggia.

But the fact that Dundee manager Ivano Bonetti, with Caballero ruled out for a significant period, felt the need to run his finger down the list of Cs in his impressive contacts book until he got to a genuine world star like Caniggia’s name is testimony to Caballero’s worth.

His enforced absence called for a very special replacement. The Argentina World Cup legend was certainly that. Of all the players brought to Dundee in that exciting era under Ivano and his brother Dario, Caniggia was undoubtedly the best of the batch. Caballero, who has died aged 46, was arguably next.

Giorgi Nemzadze and Temuri Ketsbaia, two Georgian internationals, also feature high in the rankings. However, when it came to explosive talent, as well as, regrettably, unrealised potential, Caballero was in a league of his own.

Not for nothing is he still celebrated in song at Dens Park. “He came down from heaven, to wear the number seven!" fans sing, never more passionately and never more poignantly than before, during and after Saturday’s home defeat to Aberdeen. It was just hours after news of Caballero’s death emerged on social media.

Former Dundee striker Fabian Caballero has died at the age of 46. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602

He reportedly suffered a heart attack while playing futsal in Paraguay, his adopted homeland. Among those posting tributes were Arsenal, where Caballero made three appearances on loan under Arsene Wenger in 1998-99.

Caballero is the second of the Dundee side of that era to die prematurely. Patrizio Billio, formerly of AC Milan and who also played for Aberdeen, died last year from a heart attack while playing padel with friends. He was only 48. They were both in the starting XI when Dundee’s new era under the Bonettis kicked off in July 2000 with a 2-0 win at Motherwell. As was Javier Artero, forced to retire aged just 27 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Initially signed on loan, Caballero moved to Dundee on a permanent basis for a reported £600,000 from Paraguayan club Sol De America. Although it's an increasingly unreliable area, with so many transfer fees now undisclosed or simply estimated, the striker is still listed on some sites as being Dundee's record signing.

Caballero is also often declared to be Paraguayan, including in reports this weekend. Although he lived in the country, even dabbling in Paraguayan politics as an advisor to politician Hugo Ramirez, he was born in Misiones in north-east Argentina, very near the Paraguayan border.

Another matter of record is that he scored his first league goal for Dundee in his second competitive appearance in a 3-0 win over Dunfermline. Back-to-back wins saw the Dens Park side travel to Easter Road to face Hibs riding high at the top of the league. After Caballero gave Dundee the lead, lashing high into the net past Nick Colgan, anything seemed possible. But Caballero was sent off on the stroke of half time after retaliating following a crude challenge from Mathias Jack. Already 2-1 down, Dundee lost three second half goals in an eventual 5-1 defeat.

Caballero relaxes by the Danube as Dundee prepare for their Intertoto clash with FK Sartid in 2001. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602

There’s a gnawing sense of what might have been had Caballero not suffered a serious knee injury a few weeks later following a double challenge by Jason de Vos and Kevin McDonald near the main stand touchline in a Dundee derby at Dens.

He was never quite the same player again, although he recovered to the extent that he led the line the last time Dundee reached a major cup final, against Rangers in the 2003 Scottish Cup final.

An arresting image from after that match shows Caballero shaking hands with a suited Caniggia, who had since joined the Ibrox club but was ruled out of the final due to injury. The pair only played together once for Dundee, against Hibs towards the end of the 2000-01 season, as Caballero began his comeback. Dundee lost 2-0 and it proved to be Caniggia’s last appearance for the club.

Although Caballero remained, some of his potency was clearly gone. There was, though, a memorable double against Rangers in 2003, scored after he drove at the heart of a treble-winning Ibrox team before, with minimal back-lift, slamming two shots past German international ‘keeper Stefan Klos.

Caballero did not let the small matter of being sacked after Dundee were put in administration later that year get between him and the club. He re-signed 10 months later after bumping into then manager Jim Duffy in a Broughty Ferry coffee shop following a brief spell in Dubai.

Steven Tweed, one of the few Scots to survive the influx of talent brought in from abroad under the Bonetti brothers, was among the spectators at Dens Park on Saturday and joined in the applause for his old friend.

Caballero with our chief football writer Alan Pattullo | Comp

"Before his injury, he was almost unplayable,” he told me. "He was one of the few who came in with a bit of pedigree. Obviously Caniggia you already knew but a lot of them you did not know much about. But he came in and had a bit about him following his Arsenal days.”

Caballero left Dundee following relegation in 2005. He pulled on a Dundee shirt ten years later in a testimonial for Julian Speroni at Crystal Palace. He returned to Dundee for the first time in 2018, travelling on a supporters’ bus to watch his former team play Celtic, against whom he scored twice in a 2-0 win in 2001. It remains the last time Dundee won at Celtic Park.

His daughter Tahira, now 20, was born in Dundee. “My daughter is Scottish,” he told me in an interview six years ago. “She is Dundonian!”

His latest visit was as recently as November, when he took part in Cammy Kerr's testimonial against Celtic. A fuller figure, the touch was still there. They say class is permanent. Likewise, Caballero's name is etched into Dundee history for all time.