MORELOS CONSPIRACY MAKES ZERO SENSE

IF Beijing Renhe bidding for Alfredo Morelos is fake news, it’s the worst PR stunt of all time. Celtic fans think Chinese whispers of £8million offers are a work of fiction. A wheeze dreamed up by Rangers PR men to place Morelos (right) in the same postcode as Moussa Dembele. On the one hand, you can’t blame them. If that kind of money is on the table, Rangers should be grabbing it while they can. On the other, the conspiracy theories make no sense whatsoever. Because ask yourself this: what good does that story really do for Rangers? Almost every one of the side-effects is negative. Interim manager Graeme Murty has spent press conferences fielding questions over the future of his top scorer when he would rather be discussing wins over Aberdeen and Fraserburgh. Morelos, meanwhile, is a deeply confused boy. Right now, he earns less than half of the £16,000 a week being paid to the hopeless Eduardo Herrera. And substantially less than the vast sums Beijing Renhe are wafting under his nose. Rangers chairman Dave King has turned down the bids because he wants to secure a comfortable second place in the Premiership and a Scottish Cup in the trophy cabinet. But neither offers any guarantee of a quick and easy £8m. Selling Morelos does. The Ibrox club has spent the last two years surviving on soft loans from shareholders. There’s no shame in selling a player for a hefty profit to fill the void. With cash in the bank from the Champions League, Celtic can afford to play hardball over Moussa Dembele. Rangers don’t have the same financial cushion to lean on. Buying low and selling big is a model the Parkhead club have made decent cash from. And, in an interview with this paper, King once said it was the model Rangers should strive to adopt. What is he waiting for? The Chinese window stays open until the end of February. Beijing Renhe could still vindicate the Ibrox chairman’s negotiating stance by making another huge offer. Cash up front. But if Rangers really do plan to hang on to Morelos until the summer, there’s something they have to do ASAP. Get the kid’s agent up for a chat and start paying him the wage of an £8m player.