Barry Ferguson: Rangers are '˜mental' to turn down Alfredo Morelos bid

Barry Ferguson believes his former club Rangers would have been 'mental' to turn down £7.5million for striker Alfredo Morelos.

The ex-Ibrox captain doubts the veracity of the reports that the Govan side rejected such lucrative offers for a player they just signed for £1million last summer.

Ferguson says he’s a big admirer of the Colombian striker, though insists every player has his price and Rangers should have taken one of the bids from clubs in the Chinese Super League - if such a deal was on the table.

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos. Picture: SNS

Writing in his column for the Daily Record, he said: “In no way do I want to come across as disrespectful to Morelos because he is by far and away the best signing made by Pedro Caixinha.

“I rate him highly and even if I don’t think he’s a natural goalscorer I believe there’s a player in there who could go on to operate at a really high level.

“But – and this is a big but – if the sort of money being bandied about in terms of transfer fees and wages is close to being accurate then Rangers must be mental not to do the deal.

“The last we were told it was around £7.5m. All paid up front. And with wages of more than £60,000 a week for the player.

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos. Picture: SNS

“I find those numbers incredible. And I find it difficult to understand why Rangers turned them down. In fact I’m simply not having it.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail are reporting that Morelos’ agent will seek urgent talks with Rangers club chiefs in order to secure a significant pay rise for his client.