George Overhill

Mon 5 September 2022 20:25, UK

Pat Nevin has branded Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos as “rubbish” in the 4-0 defeat against Celtic and has warned him he could be blowing the best years of his career.

The Colombian returned to the field for the final half an hour at Parkhead, back in the fold after being dropped by Giovanni van Bronckhorst following his red card against Hibernian on 20 August.

The episode raised questions over his future at the club once again, as he is inside the final season of his contract and has been subject to near-constant transfer speculation for years, but Nevin thinks with the Gers back in the Champions League the forward might not realise what he is currently in danger of messing up.

Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, as per Football Scotland: “Alfredo Morelos came on against Celtic in the Old Firm and he was rubbish… His attitude was poor and he was nowhere near good enough for Rangers.

“If a manager can get inside his head, he can get fit and get used to the fact that he won’t be the main man anymore then he can still have a future.

“Morelos needs to realise that he wouldn’t get a Champions League move if he were to leave Rangers so these might be the best years of his career. The best thing he can do is get his head right – he can’t blow the opportunity he has right now.”

True

Morelos coming on for an anonymous cameo in the Old Firm derby was merely a fly in the ointment of a dreadful day in Glasgow, where numerous senior players contributed to an absolute failure from front to back.

The situation surrounding the striker has hardly been a positive influence on anything, and it is only because of the strong form of Antonio Colak that European qualification was earned, and the team has chugged along in spite of him.

At times last season Morelos was unplayable, and when he scored so soon after returning from his thigh surgery against Kilmarnock on 6 August it looked like perhaps he was set to rediscover that form.

Amid attitude concerns that has definitely not happened, and although results prior to Saturday (3 September) may have papered over the cracks, the defeat has shone a harsh light on the situation at the club.

With the first Champions League group stage game for over a decade on Wednesday night (7 September) against Ajax, perhaps that can be a reminder of what El Bufalo, or for that matter any of the other Gers players who stunk the place up at the weekend, is part of.

Calvin Bassey may have turned his outstanding performances last term into a move to the Dutch opponents, but on Saturday’s showing few others could hope to do the same at the moment, and Morelos hasn’t shown the form that has linked him with a big move for months now.

He, like the rest, need to address their failings fast and get back on track because important games come thick and fast.

In other Rangers news, Neil McCann was utterly baffled by the way one Gers man induced a catastrophic error from his teammate at Celtic on BBC Sportscene.