Rangers exit to Sevilla likely for Alfredo Morelos as Carlos Bacca blueprint beckons
Alfredo Morelos’ long-term future at Rangers is looking less likely by the day and the interest of Sevilla makes La Liga his obvious summer destination.
The Spanish side have been linked to the Colombian striker since last summer, although the expected market for his services at the time dried up in the wake of thigh surgery that ruled him out of the final weeks of last season and affected the start of the current campaign.
Now, with three months remaining on his Ibrox contract he appears to be angling for the exit door despite Michael Beale insisting to Sky Sports on 16 March that everything was still “open for discussion”, while refuting a previous “rumour” that Morelos was about to sign a pre-contract in Seville [Vamos Mi Sevilla, 10 March].
The Colombian was then pictured wearing an Everton shirt back in his home country over the international break, suggesting that his mind is in a somewhat different place than Beale’s.
Galatasaray are interested, but a report from Takvim in Turkey on Wednesday (29 March) reiterated Sevilla’s presence in the race for the 26-year-old and added Aston Villa to the equation.
Whether he already has an agreement in place or not it now seems most likely that the Spanish club will be where he goes this summer, as they can lay out to him a perfect sales pitch by pointing to fellow Colombian star Carlos Bacca’s career.
The now-36-year-old former AC Milan and Villarreal forward signed for Sevilla almost exactly a decade ago when he too was 26.
He also came from a league outside the big five European leagues, arriving from Club Brugge in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, and went on to have great success at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Bacca scored 49 goals in 108 appearances over just two seasons at the club, while winning two of his three Europa League titles, before translating that into a €30million [£26.5million] to the San Siro.
His compatriot’s story represents the perfect set of footsteps for Morelos to follow if he has an eye on cash and trophies in the biggest leagues in Europe, which is well within in his rights.
Perhaps most crucially Bacca also won 49 of his 52 international caps for Colombia after his move to Sevilla, with the only match in which they both featured being Morelos’ international debut against Venezuela on 8 September 2018.
Morelos surely has designs on advancing his own national team career, as he left Rangers twice last season to fly thousands of miles in the hopes of added to his 11 caps despite being given no minutes, in a “bizarre” episode [Scottish Sun, 28 March] which derailed his Light Blues season and likely the club’s chances of netting a transfer fee.
Whether Beale truly believes there is a chance El Bufalo stays at Ibrox, or indeed wants him to, it seems inevitable that the opposite is now on the cards.
In other Rangers news, a new up and coming manager has admitted he wants the Gers job.