Big clubs in England won’t go near Morelos, says Souness
● Colombian striker’s disciplinary record is a major red flag, insists ex-rangers boss
Former Rangers manager Graeme Souness believes big English clubs won’t be interested in Alfredo More los because of his poor disciplinary record.
The Colombian’s talent and goalscoring record has led the Ibrox club to slap a £20 million price tag on his head. However, the 22-year-old has been sent off five times this season, albeit one red card was rescinded, and Souness claims that has given him a reputation which means prospective suitors in England will now be looking elsewhere.
Morelos, who has 29 goals this season, collected his latest red for lashing out at Scott Brown in Rangers’ 2-1 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead in March.
Souness said: “The last Old Firm game? He got mugged off. The big clubs in England won’t be looking at him. Elsewhere? Maybe; it’s how they [English] see the Scottish game, unfortunately.
“Virgil van Dijk got a big move after leaving Celtic and he was a centre-half.
“The hardest thing to do in football is score goals. Yes, you might get someone in the Championship taking a chance on [Morelos] but I can’t see the Liverpools and Manchester Cit ys and Manchester Uniteds being interested in him.
“I wouldn’t know [about his valuation] but I’d very much doubt big teams would be interested. Maybe lower end of the Premier League but they would [also] question his discipline.”
Souness himself knows better than most how the highlycharged atmosphere at Rangers’ games can lead to players losing the plot. In his first match as player/manager of the Ibrox side in 1986, he was ordered off during a 2-1 defeat by Hibernian at Easter Road.
That wasn’ t to be the last time the combative midfielder saw red before he hung up his boots but Souness believes Morelos is in danger of wrecking his career prospects unless he can control his temper and claimed he was “reaching the point of no return with the things he gets sent off for”.
“He’s a player, a real player, but he needs to get that out of his game. He’s somehow got to keep that fire, but control it.”
Former Liverpool manager So uness is also concerned by the temperament of some other current Rangers players, including goal keeper Allan McGregor, sent off against Hibs on Saturday for a bizarre kick at Easter Road striker Marc Mcnulty.
“It’s ill discipline and that’s not acceptable,” Souness added. “How old is Allan Mcgregor – 36, 37? He should have worked that out by now.”
Rangers host Celtic on Sunday in the final Old Firm game of the season. As well as Morelos, the previous game saw Andy Halliday and Ryan Kent suspended after incidents involving Brown.
Souness said: “That was an old senior pro playing the game. Did he get the reactions he was after? He certainly did.
“You go through life, not just football, and you have to learn from your mistakes – and that was a mistake [by the Rangers players].”
Kr is Boyd played alongside Allan Mcgregor for Rangers in the noughties when they won a championship and two League Cups together under Walter Smith.
However, the veteran striker (at 35, he’s two years younger than the goalkeeper) admits he doesn’t recognise the man he once knew when he watches him now.
Boydwa sat Ibrox on Sunday, helping to analyse R angers’ 1- 0 win over Hibernian for Sky. The superb late save Mcgregor produced to deny Florian Kamberi an equaliser did not surprise him; nor, though, did the petulant kick at Marc Mcnulty’s back which saw him sent off minutes later.
That approach–catching op po
nents late or kicking out at them – has been a recurring aspect of Mcgregor’s displays this season. He escaped punishment for catching Mother well defender Peter Hartley late during a 3-3 draw at Fir Park in August and again avoided sanction when he planted his studs into Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer’s groin during a 1-0 defeat at Parkhead in September.
A dangerous, studs-up lunge at Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson during a 4-2 victory at Pittodrie in February saw Mcgregor receive a retrospective twogame ban and his straight red card at the weekend capped a season of discontent for the player, who retired from international football earlier in the year.
Boyd believes his old friend remains an outstanding performer but cannot defend his thuggish outbursts.
“When you are at a big club, there are obviously pressures there,” he said. “Alfredo Morelos is a young boy and he has learned the hard way after being sent off and missing important games.
“But there isn’t any excuse for Allan Mcgregor. You cannot say he’s a young boy; he’s been there going for league titles, runs in Europe, big games. When you look at Allan first time around compared to what he is now… maybe it was because we were winning and Allan was part of a group that were winners.
“Many of the R angers team haven’t won anything and maybe he’s trying to drive them on to that next level. Doing what he’s doing isn’t doing that or showing that. Inside two minutes on Sunday, he had a fantastic save to get Rangers
three points and then he’s kicking someone in the back. There have been too many incidents. I look at the way he is roaring, so angry at people. That was never him. There must be a pressure somewhere within Allan that needs to be vented somewhere else and needs to be sorted.
“He’s a winner, I get that, and he wants the Rangers fans to understand that he’s a Rangers man and that he cares about the whole thing, but his performances and his saves show that he cares and that he wants to win.
“It’ s disappointing to see because the level he’s been playing at has bee nun believable; he’s the best goalkeeper in the country by a mile.
“But he’s screaming at defenders, coming charging out of his goal to get involved in incidents that have nothing to do with him and then there are the incidents he has been involved in – the Kris Ajer one, the one at Motherwell, the one at Aberdeen.
“I don’ t understand what’ s going through his head sometimes. He doesn’t need to show the Rangers fans he cares by doing stuff like this. His performances show that he cares and that he wants to win with Rangers.”
Mcgregor’s dismissal was R angers’ ninth in the league this season, leaving them only one point above Hamilton Academical at the bottom of the SPFL Premiership Fair Play table.
That indiscipline must be addressed by the Ibrox management, according to Boyd.
“Steven Gerrard needs to sort it out and it isn’t a case of having a discussion to see what’s going on,” he said. “He needs to sort it and to show that he’s the boss.
“If you go back, would this have happened under a Graeme Souness or a Walter Smith [pictured]? No, you would still have had players sent off but I don’t think the red cards that have come this year would have happened under them. “There is pressure playing for Rangers, especially right now when they’re not winning anything.
“That’s not an excuse but we all know that people react differently under pressure.
“I just look at Allan now and it’s a totally different guy to when I was a team-mate of his. There have been too many incidents. I look at the way he is roaring, so angry at people; that was never him.” • Kris Boyd was speaking at The Kris Boyd Charity Golf Day at Trump Turnberry. The Boyd Charity raises funds and awareness for Mental Health.