Charlie Adam was still a starry-eyed schoolboy dreaming about the possibility of making a career in football when, while enjoying a bounce game with his friends, he spotted a familiar figure wandering aimlessly round the mean streets of his native Fintry on Tayside.

He could have been forgiven for being taken aback; they weren’t accustomed to seeing too many World Cup finalists in the neighbourhood.

Yet there was Claudio Caniggia, whose goal had taken Argentina to the final of Italia 90 and who had just been signed for Dundee from Atalanta by then manager Ivano Bonetti, strolling around all alone.

"I was growing up in Fintry and playing with my mates one day; I think I was about 14 at the time,” said Adam. “We were kicking a ball around the streets and we saw this man walking around on his own.

"We got closer and closer to him but he spoke no English whatsoever. I don’t even know how he ended up there but he was in the street so I ran to my auntie’s house to grab a piece of paper and got his autograph.

“I still have it now. It’s in my mum’s house, which is where all my memorabilia is; I still collect stuff now. It was surreal because he played for Dundee and because of everything that had been going on there.

“Looking back, I think he was just out walking around and got lost. I don’t know if he was living in Broughty Ferry at the time but that was that.

“Did I help him? No, he disappeared. We just left him - I was too busy running around and enjoying myself but he must have got home fine.

“Would you want to walk around Fintry? Not in the dark, no. It was quite a rough area, as we well know. There are rougher places he could have been, mind you, and I was privileged to have the background I had there. It brought me up and made me the person and the player I am now. I loved being there.

“It was amazing to meet him, though, and then seeing him sign for Rangers when I was there was incredible. He didn’t remember me and he still didn’t speak English then.

“Listen, he was a wonderful talent and seeing how he applied himself when he was 34 or 35 was terrific for me. He was still as good as anybody at the club. He looked after himself and was a top player.”

Caniggia’s arrival in Scotland in October, 2000 – he signed on the same day as the less heralded defender Beto Carranza, who also represented Argentina and would go on to sit on the bench as Dundee lost the 2003 Scottish Cup final to Rangers – prompted a wave of optimism from Dark Blues supporters.

“I think the money had a lot to do with it,” said Adam. “Caniggia was on a big salary, I heard. The Bonettis were here at the time and I think [club owner] Peter Marr was putting the money in. It was wonderful we had a player like that.

“At that time, we had Giorgi Nemsadze, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Zurab Kizanishvilli, Fabian Caballero, Carranza, Jonay Hernandez and even Nacho Novo.

“Dundee fans were living the dream. We got to the Scottish Cup final and probably should have beaten Rangers that day. It just went wrong and, unfortunately, the club paid for that by being plunged into administration later that year but it was amazing the players we brought in. Those were good times.”

By then Caniggia was a Rangers player, winning five major trophies, making 78 appearances and scoring 21 goals, including the opener in the 2003 League Cup final victory over Celtic for Alex McLeish’s treble winners.

However, unlike Diego Maradona, Adam was never a team-mate of Caniggia’s. Nor did he ever refer to their first encounter.

“No, I never mentioned it,” he said. “Just being around him at that time, with so many other great players, was wonderful. He loved drinking coffee and had the odd fag now and then as well but he was a top athlete.”

Unfortunately, Adam believes that the prospect of a World Cup finalist plying his trade in the Premiership [as well as his Italia 90 exploits, Caniggia scored twice at USA World Cup 94 for Argentina and was a member of the World Cup squad for the 2002 finals in Japan and South Korea] in the near future is remote.

“I think it will be difficult,” he said. “Caniggia was a world-class player. There were probably only two clubs that could afford it then and it will always be difficult now when you have the money in England.

“He affected games and was incredible when he was in Scotland. It would be hard to see someone as big and global to come in again.”

Adam returned to Scotland to play in former team-mate Kris Boyd’s testimonial at the weekend and he also plans to cross the border again to attend An Audience With Claudia Caniggia, question-and-answer sessions which will be held in Dundee on November 29 and in Glasgow the following day.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I am going to try to get up if I can and listen to it. Dundee fans want to hear what he was like because he was a top player and I’m sure he has a lot of stories for us. I’m looking forward to hearing them.”

Charlie Adam was speaking to promote An Audience with Claudio Caniggia at The Whitehall Theatre, Dundee, on November 29, and The Record Factory, Glasgow, on November 30. Tickets can be bought from thelongestforty.com