I’m not convinced that Alfredo Morelos’ recent Rangers contract renewal was anything more than making sure the club can get a premium fee for the striker’s services when the summer transfer window opens.

I believe the young hitman has enjoyed his time at Ibrox but I also think he’s hungry to challenge himself in a bigger league.

The player himself has stated in his homeland that he expects to leave Glasgow before the start of next term and that England would be an ideal destination (Via The Scottish Sun):

“There are many teams interested in me and a lot of them have watched me play.”

“Most likely my transfer will be this summer.”

“With the amount of goals I have scored, I know it has been noticed by European clubs.”

“I have always said I would like to play in the English Premier League.”

Alfredo has had a terrific goalscoring record whilst playing for the Light Blues. Since his arrival in the summer of 2017; Morelos has scored forty-seven goals in eighty-seven goals. That’s a tremendous record!

He’s a scorer of different types of goals too. He can score lovely finishes from outside the box (as seen against Aberdeen), he’s prolific inside the penalty area and can finish with his head.

He is currently leading the scoring chart in Scotland’s top flight this tern with seventeen goals in twenty-six appearances.

The twenty-two year old has improved greatly since Steven Gerrard became his manager in preseason.

This season has seen Morelos almost perfect the lone striker role. He can run in behind defences, close down opponents, make clever runs to find space, hold up play with his back to goal and lay-off the ball to teammates.

Alfredo can also score in the bigger games; as he’s proved against Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs in the Scottish Premiership. The youngster also managed to grab four strikes in the Europa League this season.

His form in Scotland hasn’t just been noticed by club scouts but also by those that run the Colombian national team.

He now has three caps for Colombia, starting in the most recent game against South Korea and earning rave reviews.

Colombian star midfielder James Rodriguez was very impressed with Alfredo’s skill-set (Source – Daily Record):

“Players such as Alfredo Morelos, who can be the future of football in our country.”

“He has a lot of talent and has all the qualities needed to be a top player for us.”

“Alfredo is young, has had a great season and is a top striker. He was called up ahead of more experienced strikers so that tells you that our manager Carlos Queiroz rates him very highly.”

Veteran Light Blues’ teammate and profile Premier League goalscorer Jermain Defoe has also been very complimentary when talking about his strike partner to Sky Sports:

“He’s got huge potential,”  

“I knew about him before but you don’t realise how good he is till you see him train and you see him in games. The sky’s the limit for him. If he played in the Premier League, he would score goals.”

Quotes like these will just see the Gers striker garner more attention from strong European sides.

Now there are some issues that might leave potential suitors hesitant regarding Morelos.

The obvious one could be his temperament.

The Colombian international has picked up eight yellow cards and three reds (Stats from SPFL.co.uk). I think at times the forward gets picked out by opposition defences but he needs to stop reacting. Alfredo can also do something ridiculously silly like kick out or stamp on opponents. That type of stuff won’t be tolerated by clubs in the bigger leagues.

In fairness, I don’t think Morelos will get the same attention as he gets at Rangers. As he matures, he will hopefully learn not to react to any provocation.

Then there’s the question mark that hangs over his head when it comes to not scoring against Celtic. The Old Firm game is the biggest in the Rangers fixture calendar and people (including scouts) will judge you on those performances.

He worked extremely hard in the Gers win over Celtic in December but he still didn’t and hasn’t found the net against The Hoops.

Alfredo Morelos could put that record right on Sunday at Celtic Park as Rangers look to claw back the lead the Scottish Premiership champions have over Rangers.

If he can finally score against his club’s fiercest rivals then his fee might increase as could the number of clubs looking at bringing the goalscoring striker into their squad for next season!

Posted on March 29th, 2019 by scott
Filed under: Article