‘Alfredo Morelos looks like he could play in any league but we are not planning on selling’ - Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson

Rangers’ new sporting director Ross Wilson believes Alfredo Morelos is good enough to play in any league in the world but insists the Ibrox club are under no pressure to sell their prize asset in January.
Alfredo Morelos has scored 22 goals this season already. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNSAlfredo Morelos has scored 22 goals this season already. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS
Alfredo Morelos has scored 22 goals this season already. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

Colombian international striker Morelos has already scored 22 goals for Rangers this season, intensifying speculation about a move to the English Premier League, where he has been linked with Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

Signed for just £1 million from HJK Helsinki in the summer of 2017, the 23-year-old is set to make Rangers a healthy profit whenever he does move on.

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But, despite the club posting a loss of over £11 million in their most recent annual accounts, Wilson has been assured by chairman Dave King’s board that he does not have to sell in order to fund fresh investment in manager Steven Gerrard’s squad.

“The board are continuing to invest in the club to get us back to where we want to get to,” said Wilson in his first media conference since joining Rangers from Southampton earlier this month. “Clearly, like in most clubs, part of that will be transfers out as well as transfers in to reinvest in the club.

“But I have not been asked to make sure we sell players to make sure we can reinvest in the team. The board have committed that they will continue to invest in the club going forward.

“Alfredo looks exciting, there is no doubt about that. He is scoring goals at an incredible rate and is a player who, at this moment in time, looks like he could play in any league.

“We are not planning on selling [in January]. We do plan to reduce the squad. We think the squad is too big and plan to reduce that slightly.

“We are not planning any significant incoming work, but if there is an opportunity that Steven or myself and the coaches think will enhance us, we will look at it.”

Wilson, who replaces Mark Allen in leading the recruitment strategy at Rangers, is confident contingency plans will be made to replace Morelos when the time does come for him to be sold.

“That’s a conversation that’s ongoing with the scouts all the time,” added Wilson. “One of the aims of the scouting and recruitment department is to make sure that in every position we always have a strong list of where we might go in a ‘what-if’ scenario. That’s something we’ve got and it’s something that will build and evolve and develop all the time.

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“The scouting network here has started to be developed strongly across the last couple of years and I’ve had a lot of chats with head of scouting Andy Scoulding as to how we continue to develop that.

“The task is to make that scouting structure bigger and more robust, tap into the networks we’ve all got inside the club, to find as many opportunities as we can, whether that’s from England, Scotland or into Europe.”