It's a decision no more appealing than being asked to choose which of your fingers you’d like chopped off. But the growing likelihood is that Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst will have to make his mind up this summer on which of his key match-winning talents he can most afford to do without.
The Dutchman faces an impossible conundrum in the weeks ahead now that Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo have entered the final 12 months of their Ibrox contracts. If extensions cannot be agreed, the Gers gaffer must either opt to cash in this window or risk losing a multi-million-pound bonanza next May when this fabulously talented triumvirate would be entitled to walk out onto Edmiston Drive and off into the distance without having to toss a single penny into the Ibrox coffers on their way out.
There may be a justification in taking a hit and holding on to one, perhaps even two, as their contracts run down but the financial imperatives mean the Rangers board are likely to want some kind of return on their investments before the current window slams shut.
So the choice comes down to which of the three vitally important players do you keep? Is it Morelos, a striker who Gers have found impossible to replace during his five years in Glasgow but also one whose reliability rises and falls with his mood swings? Or Kent, a wideman capable of getting lost in the humdrum of domestic action only to explode into life when the stakes are highest?
Then there’s Nigerian playmaker Aribo, who looked a stick-on for the player of the year prizes last term until he emptied his tank at the African Cup of Nations and was left running on fumes as Rangers went the distance in the Europa League. For former Ibrox boss Stuart McCall, it’s a simple answer.
He told Record Sport : “I’d say there are more centre forwards out there than guys who can go and really open up a game the way Kent can. He’s such an exciting talent when games are tight. He’s a player you look to and think he can make something happen.
“These days we don’t see so many wide players with that ability to come inside and play off the front. But looking across Europe, I think it’s probably a lot easier to find strikers who could come to Scotland and score 20 goals a season.
“As good as Morelos has been, I’d think I’d choose Kent because he’s a match winner. As for Aribo, he’s a fantastic talent but he’s just played 70 games last season for club and country.
“That’s my worry - the burnout factor. He had a purple patch at the start of the season where he was just fantastic. But for me he just hasn’t kicked on since coming back from the AFCON.”
These will be the factors being weighed up by Van Bronckhorst and sporting director Ross Wilson in the days and weeks to come. And former Gers midfielder McCall reckons the final call will come down to whether the risk on missing out on a transfer payday can be balanced off against the potential rewards generated by the trio’s performances on the park.
The nine-in-a-row hero - now assistant boss at Sheffield United - said: “I had something similar when I was in charge of Motherwell with Shaun Hutchison, albeit on a vastly different scale to the situation at Rangers. Each place higher up you finished in the league was worth something like another £80,000 to the club.
“We had a decision on whether to keep Shaun and in the end we did. But without him, we may not have reached the top six. We actually ended up finishing second and he was a huge part of that. We didn’t get any money when he left but that was the gamble and for us it paid off as they club made a lot with qualifying for Europe.
“The balance you have to weigh up is the value in keeping the player because of the success they could bring you against the money you might make from a transfer. But looking from the outside, unless the players are happy to sign a deal on similar money then Rangers will have to capitalise.
“With my manager’s hat on, I think you just have to accept that you’re probably going to lose one or two of them - if not all three. There’s been so much talk about player trading and if the club is going to make money, they’re going to have to cash in now or get them tied down on new deals.
“A couple of years ago there was talk of Kent going to Leeds. There was similar char around Morelos making moves. But the figures mentioned then won’t be the same now. However, you’ve got to balance that against what keeping them has meant.
Would they have won the title without Morelos and Kent? "Would they have got to Seville without Aribo? I don’t think so.”
Van Bronckhorst has already started planning for a potential future without Morelos as he looks to tie up a deal for PAOK striker Antonio Colak. And McCall insists the Ibrox faithful need not panic at the though of waving goodbye to three key components of the team that won last year’s title and this term’s Seville surge.
He added: “This is when your recruitment is tested. No-one knew Morelos before he was signed. They found a gem in Aribo at Charlton, got Glen Kamara for 50 grand. So if Rangers know this is going to be their model, then the recruitment side is huge but I’m sure the process and the recruitment is firmly in place.
“The fans don’t need to fear this - but only if Ross Wilson and the guys under him are on the ball. Celtic have been doing it for years, brining in unknown guys like Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele. Hopefully Rangers have got their plans in place too.
“I’m sure this time last year, the club will have known there’s a good chance at least two out of Morelos, Kent and Aribo will be moving on and therefore in the background they’ll be targeting replacements. Hopefully whoever comes in can give the same kind of value that these guys have given.”
