Rangers board have decisions to make as £15m contract news emerges on Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos – BBC journalist
BBC journalist Tom English believes the Rangers board have big and painful decisions to make on the futures of their key stars such as Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent.
Both Kent and Morelos, who have attracted interest from elsewhere, are out of contract at the end of the season and are currently free to discuss pre-contract deals with interested parties ahead of a potential summer transfer.
And English writing for BBC Sport [29 April] ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final between the two Old Firm rivals has been left baffled that the Gers have allowed players on £10m-£15m contracts a year to run them down.
He said: “Rangers have so much work to do in the summer that it must hurt the brain of their fast-changing board. They have big decisions to make on multiple players who are out of contract in the coming months.
“Kent is one of the highest earners at Ibrox and yet his influence and goals return is nowhere near where it needs to be – a mere 28 goals in more than 160 domestic games. In a season and a half at Celtic, Daizen Maeda is already only 10 goals behind Kent. Jota is only six behind him. Liel Abada is only four behind.
“The subject of value for money has to be occupying the minds of the Rangers board. They have players on an estimated £10m-£15m a year out of contract in the summer and you have to wonder how many of them are worth retaining. Kent is one of them. Morelos is another.”
Baffling
Indeed, it is quite baffling and laughable that Rangers have allowed two of the most prized assets to run down their contracts, especially considering the kind of money they’re on.
Two lose both players on free deals is such a massive blow when they could well have used a proper sale to significantly bolster their squad ahead of next season.
More crucially, there are no guarantees Rangers will be able to find quality and arguably better alternatives which again shows how far behind they are to their Old Firm rivals Celtic who always have contingency plans in place should the worst happen to any of their own key stars.
Now that the likes of Ross Wilson and John Bennett have departed, the business and planning behind the scenes at Ibrox have got to improve or else Rangers could very well lose their financial pull and attraction when it comes to matching and competing with the likes of Celtic in the transfer market.
The buck has got to stop at Kent and Morelos. Those two players may argue they could have done a lot more throughout their Rangers careers, and may well be on to greener pastures but English is right the Light Blues have some painful decisions to make in the coming weeks and months.
£10m-£15m is a lot of money, especially for Rangers football club.
In other Rangers news, the club are clearly playing a sick joke with their supporters after they made an announcement about a senior player this week.