Last night Alfredo Morelos was on the verge of clinching his move to Porto.
A fee has been agreed between Rangers and the Portuguese in the region of an initial £10M-£13M which will rise to around the £20M range with addons before maximising towards £30M with sell-ons.
It represents, frankly, an excellent piece of business for the club, especially given Morelos has wanted away since January 2018.
Let’s be clear – let’s get our sentimental El-Bufalo-loving heads off – Alfredo Morelos has wanted away from Ibrox ever since that Beijing Renhe bid. The Colombian made it clear that January he wanted to join the PL, and he wanted to join the PL as soon as he could.
The former HJK man made it clear Rangers was not his future.
And that is ok, it’s ok that that he was honest.
But let’s not delude ourselves into thinking our relationship with Alfredo Morelos was personal – it was pure business, on both sides.
We signed a commodity, for pennies, who did great work for us on the pitch (with a few unsavoury moments added in) and in return we gave him attention, a platform, and he used that to showcase himself to buyers.
We were a stepping stone to a bigger league, and that’s fine.
We’re not naïve to think he’s the only player who’s ever seen this club that way.
Our issue with Morelos is how flagrantly he made it clear what his ambitions were, how regularly he told us he wanted to move to the PL.
Unlike every other player who says the right things about being happy at Ibrox and committed to the club, but always flattered by interest etc, Morelos never once talked about being committed to us, and was clear frankly that he wasn’t.
Even at the title celebrations, his interview, finally in English, was all about Morelos happy, me happy, me me me. He barely touched on his team mates or his manager, just how important he was.
This isn’t meant to sound a hate fest, Morelos is a decent guy who did us a great turn and will earn us around £20M-£30M for nothing. Which we love.
But let’s not be naïve and suggest anything other than Morelos used us, was blatant about it, and this club had to use him in return.
So, it’s a business transaction, he’s a commodity, and he’ll earn us a right few quid.
Case pretty much closed.
You have seen it, you just don’t interpret it the same. You’re entitled to your view, but we’d appreciate if you don’t express that view as fact and suggest ours is false.
Morelos has been great at Rangers. He has assisted in and scored crucial goals in Europe and Scotland. He is a typical Columbian who wants to compete at the best level. Nothing wrong with that. I hope Rangers keep him.
It’s ok for Morelos to be ambitious and as you say there have been others before him who used us as a stepping stone. Would you rather have someone like Morelos who has been up front and honest about it since day one or someone who has the same ambition and keeps it under wraps but will jump ship just as quickly. Either way it’s the same result.
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