BT Sport pundit claims contract situations affecting Rangers duo Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos
Alex Rae believes Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos’ contract situation at Rangers could be having a negative effect on their performances this season.
Both Kent and Morelos are out contract at the end of the current season and are free to speak to foreign clubs from January 1st about a potential free transfer away from Ibrox.
But neither player has had a good season so far, with Kent looking like a shadow of the player he was last season and Morelos losing his place in the side to Antonio Colak, and BT Sport pundit Rae told Grosvenor Sport that their contracts could have something to do with it.
“The players have to take more responsibility for their performances,” he said.
“It’s an interesting one with Ryan Kent because he’s been performing at a very good level for a couple of years now and along with Alfredo Morelos, they’ve not really got them to where they want them to be.
“Kent is lacking confidence and Morelos hasn’t gotten up to speed with things yet and I’m not sure if their contract situations have had a bearing on that – we’ve definitely seen it before with players like Ryan Christie and Odsonne Édouard not performing at the tail end of their contracts which had an effect on Celtic.”
Definitely
It’s probably fair to say that their contract situations are definitely having an effect on their performances, but that is entirely down to them at this point.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has made it clear that the club are trying to extend both of their contracts but an agreement clearly hasn’t been found yet.
That tells you that they’re either not that interested in sticking around or the terms aren’t right for them, but that shouldn’t be an excuse not to be performing on the pitch.
We saw Leon Balogun, Allan McGregor and Connor Goldson all perform exceptionally throughout the season last year when in the same situation and ultimately two of those players ended up signing fresh terms to stick around.
With the January transfer window looming over our heads right now, Rangers need to make a decision to just get a deal done on whatever terms it will take or instead move on and let them leave to get a bit of cash in, because right now it’s doing more harm than good.
In other Rangers news, Kenny Miller blasts 7 players for underperforming amid question marks over recruitment