How 6 former Rangers strikers compare to Alfredo Morelos

Alfredo Morelos has made a blistering start to his Rangers career since signing in the summer from HJK Helsinki with eight goals in his first nine games.

(Clockwise from main) Ally McCoist, Marco Negri, Kris Boyd, Michael Mols, Rod Wallace, Shota Arveladze. Pictures: TSPL/PA

The 21-year-old Colombian has already become a firm favourite with the Ibrox faithful and he has already been linked with five English Championship sides.

Here, we take a look at how other Rangers strikers started life in Govan...

Kris Boyd, 2006–2010 and 2014-15

Alfredo Morelos has enjoyed a blistering start to his Rangers career. Picture: SNS Group

Boyd arrived at Ibrox for the first time in blazing form having bagged 10 goals in his last seven games for Kilmarnock before joining Rangers in a near £500,000 deal in January 2006. The 22-year-old netted a hat-trick on his debut against Peterhead in the Scottish Cup and had eight goals by the end of his first nine matches. His second spell at Ibrox wasn’t as memorable; while he did finish the season in double figures for goals in all competitions, he managed just three league goals in 29 appearances.

Shota Arveladze, 2001-2005

Signed from Ajax in 2001, Arveladze scored seven goals in his first nine games for the Govan club. The Georgian striker became a popular figure with the Gers fans and ended the season with 17 goals.

This was despite only featuring in 30 games, after he picked up an injury in February in a Scottish Cup clash with Forfar. He returned in time to make a substitute appearance in the Scottish Cup final, replacing Claudio Caniggia.

Alfredo Morelos has enjoyed a blistering start to his Rangers career. Picture: SNS Group

During his second season Rangers won the treble, with Arveladze scoring 16 in 40. He bagged another 15 goals from 29 games in the following campaign before his time at Ibrox came to and end.

Michael Mols, 1999-2004

Mols was signed by fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat in 1999 and started the season with a bang. The former Utrecht striker notched nine goals in his first nine appearances and had 13 before his season ended prematurely in November after he sustained an injury against Bayern Munich after colliding with goalkeeper Oliver Kahn in a Champions League clash.

On the domestic front, he scored all four as Rangers beat Andy Goram’s Motherwell 4-0, and he scored a memorable winner in an Old Firm game that finished 3-2 to the Ibrox side.

Rod Wallace, 1998-2001

The Englishman scored in each of his first three appearances for Rangers after signing from Leeds in 1998. After nine games he had five on the board and ended the treble-winning season on 27 from 51 matches.

By the time he left Rangers for Bolton, he had racked up 56 goals in 122 matches and won two league titles, two Scottish Cups and one League Cup.

Not a bad three years.

Marco Negri, 1997-2001

In the first nine games of his Ibrox career in 1997/98 the Italian struck 11 times including all five in a 5-1 win over Dundee United. Negri would finish the season on 36 goals from 39 appearances.

Signed by Walter Smith from Italian side Perugia for £3.5m in June 1997, Negri actually managed a staggering 23 goals in ten games - the best strike rate in Europe at the time. However, a freak injury reportedly suffered during a squash match with fellow Italian Sergio Porrini curtailed Negri’s goalscorings exploits and a series of further injuries sent his Ibrox career nosediving. He was eventually sent on loan to Vicenza before departing permanently for Bologna. Further, brief spells followed at Cagliari (two goals in five matches) and Livorno, where he scored eight in 10, but his career tailed off when he returned for a second spell at Perugia during the 2004/05 season.

Ally McCoist, 1983-1998

Rangers’ record goalscorer and former manager joined the Light Blues from Sunderland in 1983 but had a fairly indifferent start to his Ibrox career, although he scored a respectable four goals in his first nine appearances before going on to become a fans’ favourite.

During his first season he scored twenty goals; the highlight a hat-trick in the 1983 Scottish League Cup Final victory over Celtic. He added 18 goals the following season as he began to endear himself to the club’s fans, and couldn’t stop scoring. He left in 1998 having made 581 appearances for the club but would return as assistant manager to Walter Smith in 2007, before taking over as boss in 2011, departing in 2014 after an eventful time in charge.