Kenny Dalglish believes the apparent lack of interest in Alfredo Morelos could work to Rangers’ advantage as the Colombian will have to finish the season with a flourish to earn a decent move - if his time at Ibrox is coming to an end.
Morelos, like Ryan Kent and Ryan Jack, is entering the final six months of his current contract and is free to negotiate a pre-contract but it comes at a time when he has seen a slump in form, losing his place to Antonio Colak.
Dalglish, writing in his Sunday Post column, reckons Giovanni van Bronckhorst was right to start to the Croat frontman ahead of him for much of his final months in charge but Morelos came in to score the winner against Hibs in Michael Beale’s first competitive game in charge on Thursday with Colak ruled out through injury. And Scotland legend Dalglish said: “Alfredo Morelos scored the winning goal and that’s what he is at the football club to do. For a variety of reasons, he didn’t hit the heights in the first half of this season and he rarely featured under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
“Antonio Colak was regarded as the main striker, and I agreed with Giovanni’s assessment on that. There is a working relationship between Michael and Morelos. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the manager wants him to stay for the long-term, or that the player wants to be part of the plans beyond this season.
“At the moment, it would be fair to speculate that there doesn’t appear to be many attractive offers for Morelos to consider. That could work in Rangers’ favour as the player will need to reproduce the form he showed two years ago to get a higher level of interest from elsewhere.
“So he may well need to stay put for the next six months and really show what he is all about. First and foremost, his challenge will be to stave off Colak and Kemar Roofe to be the main striker. Let’s see if he is capable of doing that.”
Dalglish knows it was all about the victory at Ibrox against Lee Johnson’s Hibees with two tough away days at Aberdeen and Ross County to come ahead of the visit of Motherwell at Ibrox before that massive Old Firm showdown against Celtic on January 2.
He said: “Michael will have had the chance to get in another couple of sessions on the training pitch with the squad, and there are things to work on. Being tighter at set-pieces will be one thing to address. They need to be more aggressive in their defending, and players must take more responsibility.
“The positives will be that Allan McGregor looked the part against Hibs, and had two excellent saves. Fashion Sakala and Ryan Jack scored important goals. Ryan Kent looked in the mood, and he can be a major player for Michael.
It just depends how long he stays, and I wonder if Ianis Hagi’s deal means they expect Kent to call time on his Ibrox career at some stage in 2023. Time will tell. But as long as he is there, it’s up to the manager and his staff to get the very best out of him.
“Looking at the bigger picture, there is work to be done for Michael. He will need to improve the squad in January, and it will be interesting to see the funds made available to him to do so. There are also several players out of contract, and I’m sure he’ll want to know as soon as possible if new deals are going to be agreed.”
READ NEXT
