Morelos eager to stay at Ibrox as Lafferty remains on the radar

ALFREDO MORELOS has revealed he is desperate to stay at Rangers and work for Steven Gerrard as Kyle Lafferty emerged as a rival for his Ibrox striking slot.

Morelos was back on form, securing victory against NK Osijek with the only goal in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg.

But Gerrard is intent on increasing his attacking options and a £200,000 offer for former Rangers favourite Lafferty was rejected by Hearts, who want at least three times that fee.

It is understood that Lafferty wants to return to Ibrox, leaving Hearts with a decision to make on potentially retaining an unhappy player if they refuse to do business.

Rangers are in no rush to up their bid at this moment. That is likely to leave Morelos as the main man up front when Rangers open their league campaign at Aberdeen next Sunday.

And the 22-year-old would be perfectly content with that state of affairs.

In an interview with a Colombian radio station, Morelos said: ‘I am very happy at Rangers and it was a joy for me to score in the Europa League.

‘Having Steven Gerrard as a manager is a very motivating experience. I feel humbled that someone like him is coaching me and trying to make me better. He makes demands on me each day and drives me on to do better.

‘His training sessions are good. He is calm when it comes to his team talks.

‘I have not talked to him too much because of the language barrier but he has got his message across and I feel I am learning a lot. He always makes it clear what he wants me to do.

‘My aim this season is to score a lot of goals. I think we have a chance of going on a Europa League run.’

Meanwhile, Croatian international Mile Skoric hopes Morelos is being presumptuous about that as he branded Rangers ‘lucky’.

The Osijek midfielder insists his team can upset the odds with an away victory at Ibrox.

He said: ‘I can’t believe we lost. Rangers were incredibly lucky. We were better in all respects.

‘We have the belief we can win in Glasgow. Rangers didn’t pass the halfway line after the interval. I thought they would be better than they were.

‘We dominated and I think we will play better in Scotland.’