Giovanni van Bronckhorst insists Alfredo Morelos will fly out for Colombia duty with his best wishes despite fears Rangers will be left short of Old Firm firepower.
The league leaders are due to take on their title rivals next month but Rangers fans are now fretting after learning they’ll be without their top scorer.
The Ibrox manager, who will also be missing Joe Aribo and potentially Kemar Roofe and James Sands due to international commitments, ruled out requesting a postponement of his side’s February 2 trip to Parkhead earlier this week.
And he gave no indication he’s having second thoughts after Morelos was called up for Colombia’s World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Argentina.
Record Sport understands there have been no approaches to the SPFL over a possible postponement.
Van Bronckhorst is delighted to see his in-from talisman back in Reinaldo Rueda’s squad – even if it means he’ll be left with only Fashion Sakala and Cedric Itten as forward options.
The Rangers boss said: “He has been in really good form, especially the last months for me since I came in so I’m really happy for him and also for Rangers that he has good momentum.
“When he’s playing well he gets called up for Colombia. So he won’t be with us for the coming weeks. Obviously you want to have your full squad for every game but at this moment we miss Aribo and Morelos.
“That’s not what you want but it’s the way it is. If you have international games during the league, it always gives you a difficult situation, not only for me or the club but also for players because they are stuck in between playing for their country and club.
“I know what the club means for Joe and Alfredo but as an international player I also know how important it is to be successful for your national team. It’s a battle you can’t win as a player.”
Van Bronckhorst did reiterate his stance that John Souttar won’t be making an early switch to Ibrox. But he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of new faces checking in before the end of January.
He said: “I said before, John is a Rangers player from next season on. That didn’t change in the last week so for this moment he won’t be joining us.
“But the window is still open for 11 days so anything can happen. For me, it’s also a little bit uncertain how the squad will look in 11 days. You have to be prepared.”
Gers kick off their Scottish Cup bid at home to Stirling Albion on Friday.
Gio could give kid midfielder Alex Lowry some action against the League Two side and he said: “Kemar Roofe will be involved, as is Leon Balogun.
For Ryan Jack it’s too early. Scott Arfield trained a little bit with the team today so hopefully he will join us at the beginning of next week. Steve Davis, hopefully somewhere next week as well.
“Alex Lowry is also in the squad. He’s a big talent coming through the academy. It’s a chance for me to rotate my squad a little bit. It’s always nice when you’re able to do that.
“The Cup is very important because it’s the shortest number of games to win a major prize.
“In that perspective we will do everything to try and win this cup.”
