IT has always been about the numbers with Alfredo Morelos. For Dave King, the trade off was between goals and pound notes.
The Colombian has so often been a player that Rangers couldn't live without. At times, Steven Gerrard had to ponder if he could live with him at Ibrox.
In recent weeks, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has found himself in that same unenviable position as his time and energy centred around a player who has made his fair share of headlines, for good reasons and for bad, over the last five seasons.
The latest Morelos scandal saw the striker dropped from the squad amid questions over his fitness and his mentality ahead of the Champions League play-off with PSV Eindhoven. When Rangers needed him most, their talisman was absent once again.
It could have been the tipping point, the moment that Van Bronckhorst decided to cut his losses and offload Morelos. Instead, he has offered an olive branch and the chance at redemption has been accepted as the forward attempts to earn his jersey once again.
"I think with Alfredo, the word mercurial comes to mind although that might be slightly off," King said of the man that he sanctioned a move for in 2017 as Pedro Caixinha signed the striker from HJK Helsinki. "He’s his own person.
"We used to have discussions with Steven about him. We got him for a £1 million or so.
"We could sell him for X and make a profit but as Steven and I discussed, in football there is no such thing as a profit. It’s a swapping of cash flows.
"If I spend a million on a player, sell him for £20 million and replace him for £30 million, I’m minus £10 million cash.
"It doesn’t matter what I originally paid for the player. It’s what it costs to replace him.
"Our view was always that Alfredo scores goals, he’s tough as hell to play against. People don’t enjoy it. All these big bully boys who come are try and bully us a little bit, Alfredo would stand up to them.
"Our view was always, cash for cash, what will we get and what will it cost to replace him? You know what you’ve got, the goals he can score and how difficult he is to play against.
"Who are you going to bring in? Some of these guys don’t fit into Scottish football so our view was always that we need a premium on what we get for Alfredo to reinvest in someone to replace him. We never, ever got a value that we thought was worth more than keeping him."
In just a couple of months, Rangers will have no say in the situation. Morelos is in the final year of his deal and talks over an extension, which were progressing positively, were halted when Van Bronckhorst raised concerns over his application and desire last month.
Ryan Kent is also in the same position in terms of his deal. It is potentially perilous for Rangers but King will view the bigger picture.
"Ross Wilson is a very good guy who knows the market inside out," King said. "He is going to be making a decision.
"In certain cases, there is nothing you can do with a player. We had it before where we wanted to keep someone and they were determined not to extend. There’s nothing you can do about that.
"I’m absolutely certain that Ross, within the resources the club are allowing, will be maximising that. My concern is what they’re allowing him to spend.
"He’ll be looking someone like Ryan and trying to maximise the situation, which is 'I want the guy in my team but if I lose him for a free in it’s going to cost me £8 million, £9 million, £10 million to replace him. Cash for cash, how do I manage that situation?'
"But if the player and the agent turns round and says they’re going to leave for free, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it.
"I’ve certainly got no inside track to the what the view is of Ryan Kent and his agent to continue with Rangers.
"I’ve got a better sense with Alfredo and I don’t see him leaving in the short-term. I really don’t."
The obvious question there is why? Morelos has courted potential suitors from across the continent for some time but a £16million bid from Lille two years ago hasn't been followed up.
The 25-year-old has made no secret of his desire to move on but the man that signed the cheque to bring him to Glasgow doesn't believe an exit is on the cards.
King said: "I just don’t see a value proposition coming in for Alfredo. When you have a mercurial player like that, you know them and how to manage them. Yeah, they’re temperamental.
"For another club to come in and buy that player for a significant amount of money I think becomes quite challenging.
"I think the last couple of weeks certainly hasn’t helped. We’ve seen it with Alfredo a couple of times.
"You get this build-up and then things calm down. It’s better that he continues and tries to stabilise himself with Rangers.
"Also, given that Alfredo’s record in Europe is phenomenal, if I was the manager now I’d be telling him to get fit, knuckle down, get his weight down, sign a long-term contract and come and play for us in the Champions League. Because this is the move that can now get you to the next level.
"If he moves now, I don’t think it’s going to be a great move for him. I don’t see clubs lining up to buy him based on his current situation."
Those circumstances were, once again, the making of Morelos. Talks last Sunday have at least allowed common ground to be found and a route back to be laid out.
But King was surprised at the way in which the situation was handled originally as Rangers called into question the professionalism of one of their main assets.
"I think that’s a great point," King said when asked about the Rangers briefing against Morelos last week. "I found it extremely odd.
"I had discussions with Ross and Mark Allen about that. I said if we decided a player was no longer in our plans, the last thing we do is tell people about it because the price goes down immediately.
"I’m always surprised when a club pre-announces that someone is not in their plans and then makes them available for sale. It just seems extremely odd business to me."
