STEVEN Gerrard last night said that whoever keeps leaking transfer stories about Alfredo Morelos is doing the player no favours whatsoever. Transfer speculation about the Colombian, who recently extended his contract until 2023, has been rife all summer – with the latest one being a media report on Thursday evening which claimed the striker had turned down an £190,000-a-week offer to join Chinese club Hebei Fortune.
There were further lurid headlines about the player, pictured kissing a Colombian model, in the tabloid newspapers yesterday and Gerrard insisted last night that none of the stories had anything to do with anyone at Rangers. Asked specifically if the stories had arisen from an agent or someone purporting to be working on the player’s behalf, Gerrard declined to comment. While the transfer window for Chinese Super League has now closed, the English one remains open for one week longer.
“There was zero truth in the speculation linking Alfredo with China,” said Gerrard of a player plucked from HJK Helsinki by the club’s former manager Pedro Caixinha for a sum thought to be in the region of £1m back in 2017. “I’m very keen to keep him and if we want to be successful then it’s important we keep our best players and Alfredo certainly comes into that category.
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“The disappointing thing is that someone, somewhere is creating a lot of nonsense and speculation around the kid and it’s not helping him. It’s certainly nobody connected to this football club because everyone here wants him to stay and be successful so someone, somewhere is creating a lot of noise for this kid.
“There’s always an angle, although I’m not sure what that angle it is. But there’s a lot of noise around the player - he’s been linked with around eight to 10 clubs and yet the phone hasn’t gone.
“If I talk to him about him about it then I’d be talking to him again in three or four days’ time because it’s a different club every three or four days. But nobody’s phone at Rangers has rung to do with Alfredo Morelos.
“I’ve experienced this kind of speculation before around players but more often than not there’s truth in it. There’s a difference between speculation that’s true and speculation that’s nonsense.”
One Rangers player who is on the move is Glenn Middleton. The 19-year-old, who made an impact on the first team during the previous campaign, has been farmed out to Dutch side NAC Breda “Glenn is going to NAC Breda on a season-long loan which is a fantastic opportunity for him to go and play a lot of games and fight for the title in Holland,” said Gerrard.
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“He’s excited about that and it was his decision, he chose the club. We’ve done a lot of homework on NAC as a club and they’ve got a fantastic support so it’s a good opportunity for him.”
While Gerrard is keen to add “one more” player to his squad, he said he is prepared to wait to find the right man. Eros Grezda, signed last season from Osijek, is likely to move on. “We’re prepared to be patient to get the right person,” he said. “And more outgoings will depend on whether the individual players want to go and play football. There’s interest around Grezda and that could move.”
Steven Davis could be fit to return in time to play some part at Rugby Park, although it will come too early for Jon Flanagan and Filip Helander. “Davis is going out today to try and get cleared, so he’s close but he’s still a doubt,” he said. “By a week or 10 days’ those other two will be ready, fit and available.”
Gerrard downplayed the appointment of referee Willie Collum to the game on Sunday, the experienced official who drew the ire of the Ibrox side at points last season but also took charge of the final match of last season at the same venue. “It’s not something we control, we just get on with it,” said Gerrard. “He’s an experienced ref.”
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