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Given his size and appearance, it should not be difficult to track down Carsten Jancker. Tall, built like a lorry and topped off with a polished, shaven head, the German giant has been a frequent target for abusive fans in an 11-year top-class career. He has been compared unfavourably with wardrobes, wild animals and Emile Heskey and has been given a wide range of colourful sobriquets. But, this week, as his name was linked with clubs in England, Scotland, Germany and Spain, following a dire 18 months in Italy with Udinese, the quintessential Teutonic target man was difficult to locate and reluctant to engage in meaningful conversation.
'He is very happy at Udinese, he has a long contract, his family are settled and he enjoys the life in Italy,' said Erpan Goksu, one half of a German and Turkish management duo who represent Jancker's interests in Europe (though they have acquired the services of the London-based Stellar Group agency in Britain). 'He does not want to leave. His contract runs to 2007_ But he is a striker and, like all strikers, he is only really happy when he is scoring goals. And recently, he has had an ankle injury. Not a serious one. But enough to be trouble for him. I don't know if he will play for Udinese on Sunday, but I don't expect he will. He is still sore. Maybe he will be on the bench. We will have to see. For players like him, there are always clubs interested in signing him.'
Curiously, given Goksu's suggestion that Jancker was not for sale, agent John Inglis of the Stellar Group confirmed that he had offered the player to Rangers. Other clubs rumoured to have shown interest in 'Janck the tank' included Tenerife and Murcia, Bayer Leverkusen and Tottenham Hotspur. No clubs have confirmed these stories.
In England, of course, Jancker is remembered as the man who scored Germany's goal in their 5-1 defeat in Munich in that famous World Cup qualifier in 2001; as the Bayern Munich player fouled after only six minutes of the 1999 European Cup final, an incident that led to Mario Basler's opening goal and Manchester United's last-gasp dramatics; and, in a pocket of Bedfordshire, as a trialist at Luton Town whom David Pleat sent back to Cologne after barely a week's work.
Jancker, who believed - and apparently still does - that he was destined to play in England, was bitterly disappointed. 'I really wanted to make it in England, where the football is so passionate, but Luton gave me only one game before saying goodbye. And they weren't even in the Premier League!' he recalls. In career terms, that setback did him no lasting harm. After two seasons and only one goal, he left Cologne for a season with Rapid Vienna. There, he scored seven goals in 27 games. Bayern were alerted and he was soon on the move. He joined in 1996 and, after one season of settling in, became a regular player and scorer, his physical presence earning him the nickname 'Popeye'.
Jancker had six seasons, scoring 48 goals in 143 outings, and, incredi bly, given his limitations in technique, appeared in two European Cup finals, collected four Bundesliga winners' medals and was in the German squad for the 2002 World Cup. Not bad for a Kenilworth Road reject.
Since then, however , it has been downhill all the way. After the World Cup, he moved to Udinese in a £1.9million transfer. There were high hopes that he could repeat the success shown by his compatriot Oliver Bierhoff, who in 1997-98 scored a club record 27 goals as Udinese finished third, carrying them into the Uefa Cup for the first time. This season, Udinese were back in Europe, after finishing sixth, but Jancker's contribution has been meagre. His only goal came in a 1-0 victory over Reg gina on 7 December, after arriving from the bench with 22 minutes remaining, but it was his first for more than a year in Serie A .
Like other disparate, previous and stellar misfits in Serie A such as Ian Rush, Hakan Sukur and Luther Blissett, Jancker has struggled with language, food, culture and mentality, as well as defensive techniques and tactics. 'I have had a lot of injuries, starting in the pre-season, and I have never been fully fit,' he explains. 'When I scored, it was important psychologically for me more than anything. I need to score and I need to have that feeling. But first I need to play regularly and to be fit. But the game is very different in Italy.'
At 29, however, as he works to recover from the ankle strain that may keep him out of today's clash with cash-starved Parma, this son of sporting parents (his mother, Marlen, played for the national handball team and father Heinrich played volleyball) and father of two daughters is looking to England to be rescued from his Italian nightmare. 'The newspapers have written that my goal in December was a parting gift before the transfer window opened,' he says. 'But the club did not say anything to me. I am not a cheap player for this club and they cannot let me go easily. So I expect nothing will happen. Not now. But it might be different in the summer.'
And the national team? 'I cannot even think about that while I am in this situation,' he says. 'First I need to play and score goals again.'
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