If one club more than any other has been linked heavily with Alfredo Morelos, it is definitely Newcastle.

True, they’ve been banded in with Villa, Crystal Palace and West Ham more times than we care to remember, but whenever Morelos has been linked out, more often than not St James’ Park is the biggest and more obvious name of the lot.

Of course, the problem with this link is the Ashley connection – the Newcastle owner, toxic by his association with Rangers, has been proposed as the main reason why a big money deal both can and can’t happen.

Can, because he has such a hold over Rangers via his Sports Direct contract, and can’t because he has such a hold over Rangers via his Sports Direct contract.

Yes, quite a mess indeed.

But enter one Amanda Staveley – suddenly the picture changes.

The millionaire is heading a group closer than any previously have been to acquiring Utd from Ashley. The numbers are suggested at around £300M for the complete deal, and obviously Ashley will be beyond enthusiastic at selling to someone who can actually pay for it.

It’s a deal from her heart – she’s a Geordie through and through and wants to be the big cheese of her girlhood team, and it’s looking more likely to happen than we can ever remember.

So, back to the Morelos link.

The fact is Rangers fans fell out of love with the Colombian. In a recent straw poll that we mentioned, Super came out on top of a striker choice of the last 30 years alongside Croat Nikica Jelavic and Colombian Morelos, but the fact that not one single Rangers fan in the entire list chose the former HJK man and even quoted the likes of Marco Negri instead ahead suggests Morelos’ time and favour at the club is at an end.

If Staveley does secure Newcastle, Morelos is ready to leave and fans are ready to wave him off.

But what price?

With current events all bets remain off. There are creaking signs of rising stability but only just, and even then, football is still planning for the medium to long term, and of course his actual form this calendar year had been horrific, so Morelos’ previous potential £35M-£100M value at his peak around November is a thing of the past we’d imagine.

Maybe £15M tops and we’d say most fans would be very happy with that.

One thing is for sure, the chances of him moving to Newcastle increased a great deal with these developments.