Oleg Salenko selling his Golden Boot

FORMER Rangers and Russia striker Oleg Salenko is prepared to sell his World Cup Golden Boot for $500,000 to pay off his debts. The 1994 World Cup's joint top goalscorer says the offer is "hard to resist" after his business ran into trouble.

Salenko notched a World Cup record five goals in Russia's 6-1 thrashing of Cameroon in their final group game at the 1994 finals in the USA and finished with six goals to share the tournament top scorer's award with Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov.

He never scored another international goal before or after that World Cup.

"I received a good offer from the United Arab Emirates," Salenko was quoted as saying by Blik newspaper. "I had a small business but after the (global financial] crisis everything is down and I need to pay off some debts," he added.

"I'm not totally broke or anything like that so I have to sell everything, but the offer was hard to resist. I was told wealthy Arab sheikhs would take good care of the award by putting it in a local museum. Of course, I would prefer for the boot to stay in Russia or Ukraine, so if I get the same offer here I wouldn't have to sell it abroad."

Salenko played for Zenit St Petersburg, Dynamo Kiev, Logrones and Valencia before joining Rangers for 2.5 million in the summer of 1995. He spent six months at Ibrox, scoring eight goals in 18 appearances before moving to Istanbulspor of Turkey in a swap deal for Peter van Vossen six months later.