OPINION
When the Rangers top brass decided to knock back several massive offers from China for striker Alfredo Morelos last month, many lauded the club for their resilience.
Chinese Super League club Beijing Renhe seemed determined to get their man, tabling several offers reportedly culminating in an £11million bid, as reported by the Scottish Sun.
Rangers however stood firm, wanting to keep hold of the Colombian until the summer as they looked to push on and work their way into title contention while also seeking a first Scottish Cup since 2009.
A month and a half later and the Light Blues’ season lies in ruins, with the title race over before it even began and their cup run ending in an embarrassing 4-0 thrashing at the hands of bitter rivals Celtic.
It was a sobering day for everyone involved with the club, and things were made worse by obvious signs of discontent in the dressing room, with Morelos and Greg Docherty exchanging angry words on the pitch.
Now, having the obvious benefit of hindsight, it is clear to see that Rangers should have taken the money for Morelos and run to the hills with it.
The Colombian has looked out of form for a few games now, and despite keeping up his regular scoring with a tap-in against Dundee last weekend, has done little else.
The offers that were coming in from China would have seen the 21-year-old become Rangers most-expensive sale in history, surpassing the £9million Tottenham paid for Alan Hutton.
Was it ever going to be worth the club rejecting such an amount of money? Especially for a player that was never going to stay at the club past the summer?
The hope would possibly to have been to keep hold of him until summer and sell him on for a similar amount, but it is yet to be seen if any club will come in with such a big offer again.
There are so many obvious flaws in Morelos’ game, and if reports are to be believed, he is not exactly the easiest person to deal with either.
The decision to turn down such money for Morelos was a massive error from Dave King and Mark Allen, and they will no doubt be kicking themselves this summer when they are forced to accept a lower offer for the Colombian.