Rangers: Beale had shocker over 5 foot 9 "nightmare" who is now worth £3.2m
Glasgow Rangers appointed just their 19th permanent manager in the club's history on the weekend as Philippe Clement joined the Ibrox side.
Following a woeful start to the current campaign under former manager Michael Beale, the Belgian faces a tough task in order to get a tune out of the current crop of players, where confidence appears to be low.
Hopefully, the new appointment will spark some inspiration across the squad, and with a clash against Hibernian to come this weekend, it represents an ideal chance for Clement to see where he stands with the first team.
Despite overhauling the playing squad in the summer, bringing in nine new faces to Ibrox, It's fair to say that Jack Butland has been a standout performer so far, saving 76% of the shots against him at Premiership level, out of Beale's business.
The likes of Cyriel Dessers, Danilo, and Sam Lammers have struggled to hit the ground running and perhaps found Scottish football harder than first anticipated.
It was not just his incomings that have been disappointing, as several players who became cult figures departed in the summer following the expiration of their contracts.
Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield, and Filip Helander all left following the end of last term and have since moved on to other clubs, yet it is the decision to release Alfredo Morelos that could come back to haunt the Gers, especially when you consider his current market value.
How much did Alfredo Morelos cost Rangers?
The Colombian striker was arguably the only positive aspect of the failed Pedro Caixinha reign. The Portuguese manager signed him from HJK Helsinki in the summer of 2017 for a fee in the region of around £1m.
Spending that amount on a 20-year-old who had recently played in Finland seemed like a slight gamble, yet he had scored 46 goals in just 62 appearances for the Finish side and if there was something the Gers needed following the 2016/17 season, it was an out-and-out scorer.
Despite Caixinha being relieved of his duties just a few months later after the Light Blues suffered yet another poor start to the campaign, Morelos went on to become a shining light at the club, helping them return to the summit of Scottish football with some swashbuckling displays, not only in Scotland, but on the continent too.
What happened to Alfredo Morelos?
Early impressions were good, as he scored 18 goals during his first season, yet when Steven Gerrard took over ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, Morelos took to the next level.
The next two seasons saw him score 30 and 29 goals respectively across all competitions, and he began to make an impact across European ties for the Gers.
Across the 2019/20 Europa League season, he scored 14 goals in total and his efforts against Porto and Feyenoord were key in allowing the Ibrox side to secure some impressive results.
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Morelos even became the top European scorer in the club’s history the following season, scoring goal number 22 against Benfica, overtaking the record set by club icon Ally McCoist during the 1990s, and the very same season, he scored 11 Premiership goals to spearhead the club to their first title in a decade.
The world was at his feet, no doubt about it, yet the final two full seasons of his spell in Glasgow failed to really hit the notes of previous achievements.
18 goals followed under Giovanni van Bronckhorst during 2021/22, however a serious injury sustained in April 2022 while on international duty for Colombia ruled him out of the Scottish Cup and Europa League finals, which meant that he was forced to watch on as his team lost against Frankfurt in Seville.
The 5 foot 9 machine was hailed as being a “nightmare for defenders” by one former Premiership opponent who remained anonymous and, during his peak, he was a menace to opposition players in Scotland.
Morelos had everything in his locker, from a clinical nature in front of goal to showcasing his ability to play as a lone striker, holding up the ball well using his physical strength, and he left the club in the summer for nothing having scored just 12 goals all season.
How much is Alfredo Morelos worth now?
Since leaving Glasgow, Morelos initially struggled to secure a club for the new season, yet he found solace at Brazilian outfit Santos, who snapped up the former Gers hitman last month, yet offered a cryptic message to his fans via social media.
The striker said: "I will always be ready to be there for my friends in Royal Blue.
"This is not a final farewell but a see you later filled with hope. See you in the future Rangers."
Could we perhaps see the 27-year-old back at Ibrox in a playing capacity? Since his move to Brazil however, his market value now currently stands at €3.7m (£3.2m) according to Football Transfers, clearly indicating that it was a mistake letting him run down his contract and leave for nothing.
Indeed, this figure is lower than the €17.2m (£15m) he was valued at back in November 2021, yet it is perhaps unsurprising given his recent form in Scotland.
The Gers had opportunities to sell Morelos when he was at the peak of his powers, including rejecting a staggering £16.5m bid for him during the summer of 2020 from French side Lille.
The Colombian has made two appearances for his new club thus far, failing to get on the scoresheet in any of them, and it could take him a while to get up to speed having not completed a proper preseason.
Morelos was one of the Gers' finest strikers since the turn of the century, scoring 124 goals across 269 games for the Ibrox side, and it will be hard to replace his qualities. Clement will give fresh starts to the likes of Dessers and Danilo, yet early signs indicate that they have not demonstrated the vast potential that led Beale to bring them to Scotland.
Hopefully, Morelos can return to some sort of form during his spell in South America, and he may prove that Rangers had a shocker by letting his contract expire, given the lack of production from his successors and his current market value being more than £0 they let him leave for.