WHETHER the subject of Alfredo Morelos came up in the opening conversation between Steven Gerrard and Ross Wilson, Rangers’ new sporting director, the manager wasn’t keen to reveal.
“Certain things have to remain private, like what's been said between manager and sporting director,” said Gerrard with a smile.
“But Ross has had a positive week. He's been welcomed in and is getting used to his new surroundings. We've had some interesting meetings and talks.
“I'd never met him previously so it will take time. But I've been impressed by what I've seen so far. He seems like a really humble guy who is prepared to put in a lot of work.”
It is probably fair to assume, however, that the Colombian’s future would have been mentioned at least in passing during a week when he again enhanced his reputation with a terrific strike to set Rangers on their way to a Europa League win over Porto.
Gerrard expects there will be bids for Morelos – and others – in January but has already made clear his feelings on the matter. In the manager’s mind, there is no transfer fee that could meet his value of his star striker, especially because trying to replace the 23-year-old in January on a like-for-like basis would be nigh impossible.
Of course, Gerrard knows that his opinion doesn’t carry full weight in this argument. If chairman Dave King and the rest of the Ibrox board receive an offer that they feel is too good to turn down then Gerrard’s pleas could well fall on deaf ears.
“We never stop looking for replacements for all of our players because when every window opens, every one of them has a price,” he said.
“A decision like that wouldn't have anything to do with me because everyone knows what my answer would be, certainly with Morelos.
“But I don't own the club. We expect bids to land, not just for Alfredo but for all the players who are flying at the moment.
“Then that decision will be taken out of my hands. But Dave King and the board know – and they'd know again if a bid was to land – what my feelings would be towards it.”
Rangers only parted with around £1million when they signed Morelos from HJK in Finland in the summer of 2017.
It remains an incredible bit of business but bargain-hunting, in the January window in particular, is a fraught operation.
Morelos already has 21 goals for the season and Gerrard knows how difficult it would be to find someone else who could replicate that strike rate in the second half of the campaign.
“It's okay saying we'd have a list of replacements,” he added. “But you can never predict whether a replacement would come in and do as well as the player already here.
“It takes time to build a team, a style and a way of playing. If you take big pieces of that jigsaw away – sometimes where you want to get to can take an awful lot longer.
“There are a lot of things outside of football that you need to think about. Settling in, language barriers, what condition they are in, what type of character he is.
“So every signing has its risks and situations. Plus there is the availability of players in January. If we are talking about Alfredo, for example, let’s paint a picture of selling him in January.
“What club out there is going to let us buy a player as good as Alfredo? It’s impossible. It’s not going to happen. But we are talking about something that’s not happened. We have never had a suitable bid.”
With transfer offers outwith his jurisdiction, Gerrard will return to matters he can control when he takes his side back to Livingston this afternoon.
It was a venue where he learned early on in his Rangers managerial career what would be needed to succeed in Scottish football. That 1-0 defeat last September still resonates.
“When I think back to my first game at Livingston, our performance was an eye-opener,” Gerrard recalled.
“They were very good and strong – they deserved their victory that day. But it showed that, if we underestimate any opposition or we're not ready for the environment we're going into, we can be found out.
“So the players learned a lot from that fixture. That was a very interesting debrief after that game. Everyone could see quite clearly that we were too passive that day. If you do that, you're normally in a bad mood the day after.
“We've moved forward from there and made vast improvements, in terms of the squad and our level of consistency. But we all know what football can do to you. If you get carried away after beating Porto on Thursday night and get complacent, it can come back to bite you.”
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