David Wren, Stewart Weir and Colin Armstrong discussed all of the latest Rangers news on the most recent edition of the Gersnet podcast, during which the panel spent some time talking about Alfredo Morelos.
Morelos had been linked with a move away from Ibrox during the most recent transfer window, however, the Colombian ultimately didn’t end up departing from the Glasgow-based club.
The forward had been linked with Ligue 1 side Lille over the summer and they reportedly bid over £14m plus add-ons for the 24-year-old, however, the Gers are said to have rejected Lille’s offers for the player, with Steven Gerrard’s side allegedly valuing the attacker at as much as £20m.
During this recent edition of the Gersnet podcast, Armstrong shared some regret over the fact that Morelos didn’t leave the club during the most recent transfer window, saying: “I’m not going to lie, I wanted him gone. That’s not being dismissive of what he’s done for the club and the form that he’s displayed, but it just seems to me that he’s a long way away from that form that he was sort of displaying pre-Christmas last year.
“I’m quite glad that Rangers were prepared to hold out for the money that they want and what they think he’s worth, you know, that’s a nice change, because over the last few years, we’ve let some of our players go for a ridiculous price. But you do worry that if he can’t get back to that sort of level of performance, then his value’s going to go down, so that’s my concern.
“He’s cheap with possession, he doesn’t protect the ball well enough, he doesn’t bring others into play well enough and he’s not scoring the same amount of goals either, so you’re kind of questioning, well, what is it we’re actually getting from him at the moment? So, yeah, I am a wee bit concerned about Morelos.”
Did you want Morelos to be sold?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on Armstrong’s claim on Alfredo Morelos…
It may be fair to say that Morelos has been a key player for Rangers since joining the club from HJK Helsinki back in the summer of 2017, as he was their top goalscorer in all competitions for the 2019/20 season and the 2018/19 season, while he was their joint-top goalscorer in his first season at Ibrox.
With that in mind, it may be understandable why the Gers didn’t accept a bid that was seemingly lower than their valuation of the forward and would prefer to retain his services for this season.
However, Armstrong is clearly concerned that the player will not continue to perform at the level he has been performing at thus far in his Rangers career and he seemingly believes that the Gers might regret not cashing in on the player during the most recent transfer window.
Considering that the player has been one of the Gers’ key performers in recent seasons and knowing that he is under contract with the Glasgow-based club until the end of May 2023, it may be fair to say that they aren’t exactly under pressure to sell the 24-year-old, so if their valuation wasn’t met, then perhaps it was the right decision to hold onto him for now, with the belief that he will perform similarly to how he has performed in previous seasons with Rangers, thus potentially preventing his value from dropping.