Former Rangers midfielder Lee McCulloch has told Ibrox frontman Alfredo Morelos that he must improve upon his professionalism.
The Colombian international has been at the forefront of several incidents stemming from his unrestrained temper this season, and McCulloch has urged him to shore up the only deficiency in his game.
“Another game, another player trying to wind-up Alfredo Morelos. And with some success,” he wrote in his column for the Evening Times. “This time it was my former team-mate and big pal Kirk Broadfoot who did what so many defenders do which is to try to get a rise out of [a] player they know to have a short fuse.
“Now, it’s not a case of him counting to ten – or three – nor is it about him being able to ignore the little kicks and digs off the ball. It’s about professionalism. He is 22 and will learn, but if this lad is going to get to the top, and he has every chance, he’s got to learn to ignore guys like Kirk and just get on with the football.
“It’s not easy but, and I’ll use the word again, it’s professional. This is the only chink in his armour because this lad has become a top class striker.”
OPINION
It’s easy to forget how young Morelos still is, perhaps because he looks nearer to 42 than 22, but he is a young man and so that maturity that he needs to develop in his game isn’t quite there yet. It will come with time, hopefully, but we cannot expect him to be the finished article at this stage. He is a Diego Costa type of striker, someone who gives as good as he gets and sometimes endangers his team because of that, but who will bail his side out of trouble more often than not thanks to his unbelievable quality. Talent-wise Morelos is the finest striker in Scotland by a long shot, that’s indisputable. But if your manager cannot rely on you to stay on the pitch then you’re no good to anyone. Steven Gerrard has experience dealing with someone like Morelos from his days with Luis Suarez at Liverpool, so he needs to get in Morelos’ ear and make him understand that this is a problem that he needs to sort out once and for all.