EXCLUSIVE
KEVIN DRINKELL believes one simple question and one emphatic answer hold the key to Alfredo Morelos’ future at Rangers.
The Colombian striker’s Ibrox role is the subject of huge debate with the supporters as we count down to the start of the 2020/21 campaign.
Boss Steven Gerrard has confirmed he wants Morelos to stay but has also admitted that it’s not cut and dried as a big-money bid could force a shift in his position.
The hitman has rejected advances from clubs in Qatar with an understanding he wants to remain in Europe.
However, with French outfit Rennes amongst those also casting an eye over Morelos, there may still be offers landing in the Ibrox boardroom over the coming weeks.
Punters, pundits and fans have differing views on the subject. Some say Rangers should take a substantial offer. Others believe Morelos staying is crucial to the club ending their silverware drought.
For Drinkell the situation is pretty straightforward.
If Morelos has his heart set on staying to help Rangers win trophies, he stays.
If any part of him is thinking of leaving, he goes.
Drinkell said: “Whatever it is going to happen, it has to
BY CRAIG SWAN happen quickly and the question has to be straight to the point.
“Do you want to stay and help us win a championship or are you looking to move on?
“If there is any hesitation in that answer at all, I’d be saying, ‘Right you are out’.
“If he is not going to knuckle down and is constantly having one eye on a move out of the club, you need to find that out as soon as possible. “If it’s there, then that’s the decision made. “If he looks the manager in the eye. Stares Stevie (Gerrard) straight in the eye and says, ‘We haven’t won it for a while and I want to help the club get back to the top before I move on’, then that’s a different thing. “So for me the answer to the question and that way that answer is delivered dictates what happens next. “I just think that it is a discussion between manager and player. “If the manager and the player come together, they can just move on together irrespective of the finances which might be on offer, as far as I’m concerned.
“But if someone comes in and makes an offer which makes him think he wants to go, then that’s it.
“Whether it be France or Spain or wherever, if it arrives and he says he wants to go, there really is no point in keeping him.
“As much as Rangers have a decision to make in terms of selling him or keeping him, the modern world of football often means it can be what the player wants.
“If he has any hesitation in being committed, I’d tell someone upstairs at the club ‘Move him on’.”
Morelos is, without doubt, a player who has the talent and the ability to help Rangers hit their targets.
However, he has not always been consistent with last season’s loss of form between the first half of the season and the second startling.
Morelos has also had well-documented disciplinary problems. Those appeared to have been ironed out, yet he fell foul of Gerrard’s rules by being left out of Rangers;’ Scottish Cup exit to Hearts after returning back to training late from a home trip to Colombia.
Drinkell said: “The other side of the debate, and he got better at it last season, is the discipline situation.
“One year ago my idea would have been to sell him in any case because you were not getting all of the games out of him because he was collecting suspensions. That improved through last season.
“I don’t know the lad. Listening to a couple of people speaking and reading some quotes about him over the past couple of years, he seems a bit moody.
“In the past, it has looked to me as though he has been a bit sulky when he hasn’t got it his
own way.
RANGERS have sold more than 40,000 season tickets despite supporters not knowing exactly when they will be able to return to watch their team in action.
The deadline for current ticket holders to renew was yesterday. Our sister title The Sunday Mail broke the news 10 days ago that the club have sold more tickets than at this stage last year and had topped the 32,000 mark.
“The team were maybe tied up in a way in how they have to play to keep him.
“But he knows the club and the league and that continuity is important. Then again, if there could be a Steady Eddie signed to go in and settle quickly, that might also work.
“The money situation may have changed.
“I don’t really think there is someone out there who is going to go in and give Rangers £25million for him. Not in the modern world and with the state of finances around the game.
“If teams get bargains, boys coming out of contract, they are going to look at them first.
“But players nowadays have so much control. When I was at Rangers there was no freedom of movement. Even if my contract came to an end, the club could still have waited for a fee for me.
“Players have the say now. Hopefully, given he’s shown he can score goals, he will join the party and say he will stay.
“If he does do that, scores a lot of goals and helps Rangers win things, that is going to put him in the shop window for the future and maybe get him to even bigger clubs.”