Earlier this week Rangers announced yet another new signing in Alfredo Morelos.

The Colombian under-20 international arrives after signing a three year deal with the Glasgow giants.

Rangers will no doubt hope that they’ve signed the new Radamel Falcao or Jackson Martinez.

The initial signs are good for Gers fans. Alfredo enjoyed successful goalscoring form in the youth ranks back home in Colombia.

In the last year and a half Morelos has found himself in Finland, getting game time with HJK.

In sixty-two appearances for Klubi, Alfredo found the net an outstanding forty-six times. He even notched up four strikes in his six European outings for the Finnish side.

The twenty year old is a smart finisher inside the box and someone who knows him told me that he also possesses a great attitude. He is eager to get started and hungry to succeed.

Now you’d suspect that the Scottish Premiership will offer up sterner competition than the Veikkausliiga but if Morelos can live up to the hype then he could represent a terrific find for the Ibrox club.

It would be great to see a potential young South American hot-shot doing well in Scotland. It’s a region where Scottish sides struggle to bring players in from. Obviously work permits can be an issue but I still think our clubs are lagging behind in various markets.

Celtic have a decent record and have done especially well with the Asian market. But it’s about time we ventured further afield for potential superstars.

Given Morleos’ age and pedigree you’d imagine that Rangers would think they can then sell him on for a strong profit in a year or two.

Rangers are also bringing in two Mexican players this summer with Eduardo Herrera and Carlos Pena being granted work permits. The fact they speak Spanish should help Morleos settle in at the club, which is an added bonus.

Those are stars that Gers manager Pedro Caixinha knows from his time in Mexico. It has been refreshing to see Rangers delve into foreign lands again when recruiting new talent, it got a bit boring watching Ally McCoist get free transfers from other Scottish clubs or Mark Warburton scour England’s lower leagues.

It’s time Rangers, especially the fans, embrace the notion of being a ‘stepping stone’ club.

No player outside of our shores dreams of playing in the Scottish Premiership. Rangers are no longer a ‘loads of money’ club that can attract top established stars to Glasgow.

But there are still positives to playing in Scotland’s top flight, especially at one of the Old Firm teams. You get decent wages, European nights, big crowds, challenge for trophies and most importantly you’re in a shopping window for English Premier League sides.

Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Steven Davies and Virgil van Dijk are all consistent Premier League talents that used to ply their trade up here.

You can go as far back as 1998 to see the transition of Gers being a pinnacle club for a player to being a stepping stone.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst joined the Light Blues with the Premier League on his mind. He wanted to use the Ibrox club as a place to get used to playing in Britain and to find his feet before moving on to a more competitive, lucrative league. It all worked out with the Dutchman going Arsenal and then FC Barcelona.

The Gers fans loved Gio and I doubt look back and think ‘I can’t believe he used us like that’.

As long as the player gives his all for the club during their stay, it really shouldn’t matter. You’ll get a top performer and then hopefully receive a nice profit from selling him on.

When Alfredo Morelos arrived at Ibrox he said the stadium was ‘huge and beautiful’. So don’t worry he knows he has joined a big club. He’ll be determined to be a fan favourite and prove his scoring pedigree.

I’m glad that the Gers have also announced a new Director of Football in Mark Allen. It’s another step in the right direction as the club look at ways to enhance their structure from top to bottom.

Let’s hope this summer can be the beginning of an era where Rangers can find potential stars from other leagues and continents and start thinking like a big club again!

Posted on June 21st, 2017 by scott
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