Dave King wrote the £1million cheque that brought Alfredo Morelos to Ibrox.
For a man who has poured massive sums into Rangers over the last 25 years with so far comparatively little return, this may be the one transaction he can look on as actually having produced value for money. Over five and a bit years, the Colombian has repaid that seven-figure outlay with a rich return of 113 goals - including a club record European haul - plus a first league title in a decade and a Scottish Cup.
Yet with his contract dwindling and his attitude and fitness levels called into question by his boss Gio van Bronckhorst after yet another red card, Morelos’ worth to Rangers in a financial sense has recently been heading in only one direction. It’s the same too with Ryan Kent, who has joined the temperamental talisman Morelos in entering the final year of his current deal. The £7million winger’s form seems to fluctuate almost as erratically as the stroppy striker’s mood swings.
Yet when both are fit and firing, they remain undoubtedly as Gers’ most treasured possessions. The duo will stay on at Ibrox for another few months at least after Thursday’s transfer window closed without an offer for their services materialising.
But the fact that the Ibrox board have allowed two of their most marketable stars to reach a point where they can walk away for nothing next summer remains a point of concern for the supporters - the same fans who feel they are being short changed by the club’s failure this week to add to their seven new recruits despite having banked almost £100million from the sales of Nathan Patterson, Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey combined with their team’s European exploits this season and last.
But it’s no surprise to former chairman King in Morelos’ case that the big bucks didn’t appear before the deadline, not when he was out of shape and out of the team. And he’s not sure anyone will want to take a punt once he becomes a free agent in a year’s time if he doesn’t shape up by then.
Van Bronckhorst, however, appears ready to gamble on the 26-year-old after restoring him to his squad for today’s trip to Parkhead. But King reckons if Morelos really wants to recover his bargaining might, he should knuckle down and help Gers extract maximum value from their Premiership and Champions League campaigns.
Asked if he was concerned to see both Morelos and Kent heading out of contract at the same time, the ex-Ibrox boardroom boss said: “Ross Wilson is a very good guy who knows the market inside out.
“He is going to be making a decision. In certain cases, there is nothing you can do with a player.
“We had it before where we wanted to keep someone and they were determined not to extend. There’s nothing you can do about that.
“I’m absolutely certain that Ross, within the resources the club are allowing, will be maximising that. My concern is what they’re allowing him to spend.
“He’ll be looking at someone like Ryan and trying to maximise the situation, which is ‘I want the guy in my team but if I lose him for a free it’s going to cost me £8million, £9million, £10million to replace him. Cash for cash, how do I manage that situation?’
“But if the player and the agent turns round and says they’re going to leave for free, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. I’ve certainly got no inside track to the what the view is of Ryan Kent and his agent to continue with Rangers.
“I’ve got a better sense with Alfredo and I don’t see him leaving in the short-term. I really don’t. I just don’t see a value proposition coming in for Alfredo (in January). When you have a mercurial player like that, you know them and how to manage them. Yeah, they’re temperamental.
“For another club to come in and buy that player for a significant amount of money I think becomes quite challenging. I think the last couple of weeks certainly hasn’t helped. We’ve seen it with Alfredo a couple of times. You get this build-up and then things calm down. It’s better that he continues and tries to stabilise himself with Rangers.
“Also, given that Alfredo’s record in Europe is phenomenal, if I was the manager now I’d be telling him to get fit, knuckle down, get his weight down, sign a long-term contract and come and play for us in the Champions League. Because this is the move that can now get you to the next level.
“If he moves now, I don’t think it’s going to be a great move for him. I don’t see clubs lining up to buy him based on his current situation.”
Morelos at times has been worth his weight in gold to Rangers. But right now he’s pushing the scales to the limit after a five month lay-off.
There were times during Steven Gerrard’s time in charge where they had to balance off his predatory skills against his ability to get himself into trouble. But King admits the risk of selling was never tipped in favour by the financial rewards on offer.
He said: “We used to have discussions with Steven about him.
“We got him for £1million or so. We could sell him for X and make a profit but as Steven and I discussed, in football there is no such thing as a profit. It’s a swapping of cash flows.
“If I spend a million on a player, sell him for £20million and replace him for £30million, I’m minus £10million cash. It doesn’t matter what I originally paid for the player. It’s what it costs to replace him.
“Our view was always that Alfredo scores goals, he’s tough as hell to play against. People don’t enjoy it. All these big bully boys who come are try and bully us a little bit, Alfredo would stand up to them.
“Our view was always, cash for cash, what will we get and what will it cost to replace him?
“Who are you going to bring in? Some of these guys don’t fit into Scottish football so our view was always that we need a premium on what we get for Alfredo to reinvest in someone to replace him. We never, ever got a value that we thought was worth more than keeping him.”
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