Are Rangers close to smashing the Scottish transfer record?

With yesterday’s breaking news that Turkish cracks Fenerbahce have joined the hunt for in-demand Alfredo Morelos, there is a massive queue now forming for the Colombian’s services.

It appears 100% certain his spell in Scotland will be for just the one season, but if the purses of the interested parties are anything to go by Rangers could in line for the biggest windfall in Scottish football history.

Chinese side Beijing Renhe offered £8M for the ex-HJK man and this was rejected purely because we do not have to sell him – initially the BBC’s Kheredine Idessane reported the story was false, and that a ‘source close to the Chinese’ knew nothing of a bid – the fact the BBC reporter quickly (and honestly) put out a further statement retracting that claim and admitting the story was true has been somewhat ignored by the conspiracists.

But with Morelos admitting now two or three times that he sees himself moving on, Rangers are on the verge of a titanic profit. The Scottish transfer fee stands at a pretty impressive £11.5M for Celtic’s Virgil Van Dijk, but with a wealthy club like the Turkish giants inquiring today to identify how much Morelos will cost, well, we could well see a new record on its way.

The £8M fee is out there, and it is widely known Rangers expect more. And with cash-rich sides like the Chinese, the Turks and even some of the wealthier English Championship sides keeping tabs, Rangers could very well be looking at a £15M+ fee, maybe more.

This may sound hysterical, but by rejecting £8M we must applaud the board’s canny move in thinking ahead – they have indirectly announced nothing less than base minimum of £10M will be accepted, and with a glut of heavily-coffered sides after him, and a bidding war on the horizon, well, you do the math.

For a player we picked up for roughly £800,000, the profit could be stunning and could seriously help in the summer for further high-quality signings – thank you so much to Jonatan Johansson for scouting this lad and bringing him to Ibrox.

He might not be the best striker we have ever had, in fact he probably is not close, but he could end up netting us the kind of transfer fee we could only dream of a year ago.