IT was somewhat amusing amid the aftermath of Alfredo Morelos’s latest transgressions that among the prominent talking heads quickly shunted in front of cameras to tut about his lack of professionalism and conditioning were Kris Boyd and Charlie Adam.
No offence to those lads, fine players as they both were, but the death of irony may now finally be upon us. Alanis Morissette, eat your heart out.
Anyway, Giovanni van Bronckhorst unexpectedly bombed Morelos out of the Rangers squad for their Champions League play-off second leg against PSV Eindhoven this week, leaving his teammates facing one of the most crucial matches in the club’s recent history without one of their best players.
As it turned out, they coped magnificently without him, as Antonio Colak led the line superbly and grabbed the all-important goal to send the Ibrox side into the land of milk and honey, making the manager’s call look like something of a man-managerial masterstroke.
Former Rangers winger Neil McCann said after the match that he hoped Morelos was ‘sick’ as he watched his teammates fight their way out of the trenches he had abandoned them in from afar, but from his social media output at least, he appeared to be taking it quite well.
“THIS IS MY TEAM!!” Morelos bellowed in all caps, displaying a similar lack of self-awareness as Messrs Boyd and Adam, apparently. “WE ARE BACK!!” he continued. “CONGRATULATIONS BOYS!!”
If talk is cheap, then Instagram posts are bargain basement, particularly when the actions of Morelos could have proven so costly to ‘his team’. But does the contrite and reconciliatory tone of his messages hint that – to ask this question for the umpteenth time - the penny has finally dropped with the Colombian?
It’s not like Rangers haven’t been here before with their star forward, who seems to revel in pushing the extended boundaries that have already been indulged by the club when it comes to him due to his undoubted talent.
The days of players being able to turn up for pre-season training overweight are over. His now annual habit of missing the start of the season due to being out of shape smacks of a lack of respect for his club, the supporters, his manager and his teammates.
Then there was his red card at Hibernian on Saturday, a moment that brought back unwelcome memories of the sort of selfishness and madness that was optimistically presumed to have been phased out of his make-up.
But as much as van Bronckhorst was drawing a line in the sand with Morelos this week, there was also an olive branch offered to him by his manager following the win in Eindhoven.
“He’s part of the squad and it’s on Alfredo to work his way back into the team,” van Bronckhorst said.
“Morelos is still a Rangers player. I think he’s proud of the moment we had today because he’s part of it and we have to see in the coming days how it will evolve, but of course, it’s a very positive moment for all of us and also Morelos.”
Again, van Bronckhorst is not the first manager to try and scold the 26-year-old – yes, that’s 26 – and then try to talk him down from the naughty step, but what might prove to be a critical difference this time around is what even he may have noticed on his television set at home on Wednesday evening; he is no longer indispensable to Rangers.
It is early days of course for Colak, of course, but the Croatian has settled in brilliantly at Ibrox and shown he can more than fill the void left by Morelos when he is unavailable, either due to a lack of fitness or suspension. He isn’t the same type of player, and to be frank, probably isn’t on the same level. But he is scoring goals and is working his socks off for his team.
In fact, he could probably have done with taking the last 20 minutes off the other night, such was the effort he had expended in leading the line for Rangers, but with Morelos on his couch a few hundred miles away, that wasn’t an option.
Morelos has spoken previously about his desire to play Champions League football. It is no secret he sees his future in one of Europe’s big five leagues. Neither of these things can happen though unless he now knuckles down and proves just how much he wants them to.
Having a fit and firing Morelos available would be a massive benefit to Rangers in the Champions League. He has wreaked havoc in the Europa League, and has the quality to do so even with the step up in level to Europe’s elite competition. But does he really have the will?
He first must prove that he can again be a huge asset to the Ibrox outfit on the field before he can even be spoken about as a sellable asset somewhere down the line. It is the instability he causes, rather than the ability he possesses, that has so far stopped interest converting into cold, hard bids.
The hero’s welcome he received from the Rangers support upon his return to action against Kilmarnock a couple of weeks back shows that he still retains a place in the affections of the fans, but patience is beginning to fray with a sizeable section of them.
It’s all down to him. If he doesn’t seize the opportunity van Bronckhorst has handed to him this time, with Champions League football as an incentive, then when?
With Colak, Rangers have already started to move on, and if Morelos isn’t careful, he will be left behind.
