GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST reckons Alfredo Morelos is reaping the rewards of his efforts on and off the park after leading the line against Napoli at Ibrox.
The striker made his first start of the season on Wednesday night and showed glimpses that he is moving through the gears after a public scalding from his boss earlier this term.
Morelos was left out of the play-off victory over PSV Eindhoven as his fitness and mentality were questioned by Van Bronckhorst just days after his red card madness against Hibernian.
He was unable to inspire Rangers to a much-needed win over the Serie A giants and a 3-0 defeat leaves Van Bronckhorst's side with it all to do if they are continue in Europe after Christmas.
But the Dutchman was encouraged by what he saw from his main striker before he was replaced by Antonio Colak for the closing stages of the Group A clash.
Van Bronckhorst said: “I said before already that it has been a very positive week for him. Clearly you can see he is working hard.
"I thought the first start for him would be after a couple of weeks. But he has done well, he was very dangerous, he could have scored in the first minute.
"We know what he will bring to the team. In the Napoli game we needed him to be the target man and hold the ball up.
"In the first-half he played really well and should have got some free-kicks in favour of him with the physical battles he had to take with the defenders. He is clearly on another level to what he was a couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago.
"We still have Antonio who is performing well, especially up front. In the No. 9 position I think we have two players who can give me what I want.”
