KYLE LAFFERTY didn't have the best first impression of Alfredo Morelos.
The Northern Irish striker was more frustrated than anything when he watched Morelos from afar during his early days at Rangers.
Lafferty was a Hearts player at the time and came to a nightmare judgement of the Colombian striker which wasn't changed until he became his team-mate.
It was only at that point where Lafferty realised Morelos' potential as he worked on a dramatic transformation in developing his game.
And Lafferty, who spent just one season with Rangers in his second spell at the club, reckons Morelos has now become the "complete player" despite his early fears he was only interested in shooting.
Lafferty explained to the Daily Record: “When Alfredo came to Rangers he was young and raw. He still is young.
“Watching games at first I would be pulling my hair out! He just always wanted to shoot.
“He had that instinct that he just wanted to shoot whenever he got the ball and no matter where he was in relation to the goal.
“But going in a year later as a team mate he was in transition and in recent years the transformation in his game has been extraordinary.
“He has come from a player who just wants to score goals to becoming basically the complete player."
Lafferty, currently with Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta, went on to make the bold claim that Morelos could go on to achieve legendary status at Ibrox.
Revealing his hope Morelos would extend his Ibrox stay long-term, Lafferty insisted he could be considered alongside icons Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley if he continued to perform for Rangers.
Detailing Morelos' development and potential future at Ibrox, Lafferty said: “He has added assists to his game, he had the hold-up aspect to his game already and he’s like a wee bull, nobody can get near him.
“Alfredo added more to his game and seeing him in training his finishing was better than I expected.
“He has now kicked on even more. He is getting goals with all types of finishes. Headers, left foot, right foot, first time shots.
“My eyes opened from what I saw of him as a supporter to what I saw training and working directly with him. He was completely different.
“Alfredo is an exceptional player and speaking as a Rangers fan I hope he stays at the club for a long time.
"He is worshipped by the supporters, rightly so. And he can go on and break records for the club. He already has. But he can break even more if he sticks around.
“He can go on to be a Rangers legend held in the same regard as Coisty, Hateley and other icons from down the years. I’m absolutely sure of it."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel