PLANNING THE EXIT STRATEGY
Morelos may have rejected Qatar move but Rangers will be ready to replace talisman when the time comes, insists Johansson
THE call from Qatar may not have appealed to Alfredo Morelos, but it is unlikely to be followed by silence where his future is concerned.
Sportsmail revealed yesterday that Morelos had shown no interest in a lucrative deal when Al Duhail made their move to try to bring him to the Gulf. Content with life in Glasgow, and now a father to a baby daughter, the 24-year-old has his sights set on one of Europe’s bigger leagues if he is to continue his career elsewhere.
That will obviously depend on what offers Rangers receive, but the strict ‘not for sale’ sign pinned to Morelos in January has been replaced by a more nuanced stance. Steven Gerrard’s weekend comments expressed both a desire to retain his star player and a recognition of market forces.
‘I suppose what you want me to say is whether he is going to be here next year — that’s the million dollar question,’ admitted the Ibrox manager.
‘I want all my best players here. For us to be successful, we need all our best players fit, available and out there on the pitch but you and I know that every player has his price.’
For Morelos, that figure appears set somewhere in excess of £15million. French club Rennes are interested. Others may well show their hand when the 2019/20 season is finally completed in England, Spain and Italy.
The Colombian international is under contract at Ibrox until 2023, having received a number of pay hikes since joining in 2017, but there will be no complacency about his position at Ibrox.
Morelos played the best football of his career in the first half of last season, scoring 28 times. That he added only one goal after a return from the winter break delayed by suspension was a factor in the alarming decline suffered by Gerrard’s side thereafter.
When Scottish football was shut down in mid-March, it provided all at Rangers with plenty of time for reflection and planning. How best to deal with the prospect of an irresistible offer for Morelos would have been prominent in those thoughts.
Replacing someone who has scored 77 times in 137 appearances will present a significant challenge.
While Morelos is the player who tests Gerrard’s patience most in terms of discipline, he is also a genuinely talismanic presence when in peak form. Without him, Rangers would not have harvested the valuable income drawn from progression through last season’s Europa League.
The Ibrox club retain interest in Livingston’s Lyndon Dykes and Anderlecht’s Kemar Roofe, although sources have played down talk of a loan offer being made for the latter. The net will also be cast wider thanks to the improvements in scouting and analysis enforced following Ross Wilson’s arrival as sporting director.
Crucially, Wilson also has established contacts in leading agencies from his time at Southampton. Rangers are now better plugged into the market than before, even if there remains uncertainty about exactly how the financial impact of coronavirus will affect transfers across the globe this summer.
A recommendation from Jonatan Johansson was crucial to Rangers signing Morelos in the first place. Then a first-team coach under Pedro Caixinha, Johansson had watched the striker score freely in Finland and was convinced he could do the same in Scotland. His judgment was faultless.
The 44-year-old now looks on from the outside. If indeed this is the window Morelos exits Ibrox, Johansson is positive Wilson and Gerrard will have already established a clear plan to ensure as seamless a transition as possible. ‘Good clubs, big clubs, will always have one, two or three options for every position in various price brackets,’ said Johansson, who had a spell as Morton manager. ‘The one thing you never really know with signing players is how quickly they will fit it. That is always a tricky judgment. ‘Of course, it’s always going to be difficult to replace goals — and you could see how fantastic Alfredo was up to Christmas — but I’m sure the recruitment team will have been working hard all summer and will have options in place.
‘It’s the key for any organisation to prepare for all eventualities. With any player, any coach, any manager, there needs to be a succession plan where you can move quickly if it comes to it. With this break, I think there has been a lot of planning work. If Alfredo or someone else leaves, I don’t think it will come as a surprise. There will definitely be options in place to move quickly.’
Finding the right players to operate in the Old Firm environment takes more than studying what first meets the eye. Determining how they will cope under relentless pressure can be a less exact science.
There are also inevitable comparisons with who went before. Living up to the numbers posted by Morelos will not be easy for any future Ibrox forward.
‘As well as the goals, Alfredo can lead the line alone and has enough
strength and pace to present real problems,’ recognised Johansson, part of the Rangers attack between 1997 and 2000. ‘He is a real No 9 in that respect and has been the focal point for Rangers in most of the games he played.
‘Last season, the team didn’t play as well after Christmas and that affected everything. Alfredo missed even more because he was suspended. If you lose a little bit of sharpness, you can lose a little bit of confidence as a striker and you are coming back into a team that is not as confident as it was before. There are many factors that work together.
‘Even so, to get 29 goals is a big number. Strikers are judged on that, but there are so many other things that are important in terms of what goes around it. The next striker Rangers have might not play the same style. Aspects of the team could change.
‘But of course there would be comparisons if that happens. Rangers have had so many big strikers in their history and it’s something that is part of moving into a new club. As a player, you have to get on with it and concentrate on your own game.’
One thing is for certain. If Rangers have to move this summer, they would be hard pushed to draw better value than the £1m paid to HJK Helsinki to land Morelos three years ago.
With his value having rocketed since, any sale could provide funds to reinvest across the squad as Gerrard aims to prevent Celtic from claiming a tenth successive title.
‘It’s been great for me,’ admitted Johansson. ‘I have said before that when you put your name and your reputation on a player, it’s great when it comes off.
‘We have to be honest that finance is so important in football. With investment, you are much more likely to succeed, so I am glad that Alfredo is an asset for Rangers.
‘If they sell him, I don’t think they will be selling him cheap. If they get a good price, it will be great for the club overall.
‘It’s so hard to predict exactly what is going to happen with values this summer. I speak to a lot of people — managers and sporting directors — in different countries and they all say the same thing. No one really knows how the market is going to go.
‘In saying that, if you look historically at who has commanded the biggest price — goalscorers. I don’t think that will change.’