Rangers transfer news would leave accountant in sweat over £30m Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos
Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos leaving Rangers on free transfers would have left an accountant in a cold sweat three years ago, according to Mark Wilson.
The journalist wrote in the Scottish Daily Mail print edition [24 May, page 68] that the Gers duo would have reaped a combined transfer fee of around £30million when they were in their pomp at Ibrox under Steven Gerrard.
However, the club officially announced (24 May) that El Bufalo and Kent would join Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield and Filip Helander in leaving Rangers for free when their contracts expire at the end of the season.
“There was a time, three years ago, when selling Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent might have put the guts of £30million onto Rangers’ balance sheet,” he wrote.
“An accountant would look at both now leaving for nothing and break out in a cold sweat.
“As a football manager, however, Michael Beale stressed the need for context.
“After confirming they were among the five out-of-contract players exiting this summer, Beale insisted Morelos and Kent delivered value during their respective stays. In his eyes, it’s too simplistic to condemn the club for not cashing in.”
Dreadful strategy
Kent and Morelos are the two standout examples of the failures of Ross Wilson and the club’s hierarchy in recent years.
As mentioned in the article above, there was a time when both attackers could have reaped substantial transfer fees from clubs all over Europe, and the fact that Wilson allowed them to run their contracts down in entirety is simply dreadful planning.
If Rangers always wanted to sell both in this year’s transfer window, or even keep them for that matter, why didn’t they pin them down to new contracts?
Although Morelos, in particular, has more than repaid his original transfer fee and wages, letting him go in the same summer as Kent for free is unacceptable.
Hopefully, Rangers can learn from these painful lessons and start to get a hold of the contract situations within their first-team squad.
Beale is set to completely overhaul his squad this summer, and hopefully, this can help the club turn over a new leaf heading into next season.
In other Rangers news, Sky Sports journalist Andrew Dickson gives his take after Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent depart Ibrox.