Has there been a player-manager falling out at Ibrox as Alfredo Morelos was left out of the squad for Rangers’ Scottish Cup tie against Hearts?
Just a few months back the Ibrox faithful could not stop singing his praises. Alfredo this, Alfredo that. If you didn’t know any better you would be led to believe that he was just as good as Lionel Messi.
All sorts of astronomical fees were being thrown around the media as to how much he should fetch when he eventually leaves the Glasgow side – £25 million, £50 million, £100 million! Nothing seemed to be too much to pay when it came to Ibrox’s prodigal son.
The love seems to have soured though and now the Colombian finds himself in a bit of a sticky situation. Since the turn of the calendar, Morelos has found the back of the net just once. Clearly not good enough for someone who is supposed to be the best goalscorer in all of Scotland.
And he was left out of the Rangers squad to take on Hearts. Now is that a sign of the Gerrard dropping a man he is growing increasingly frustrated with or just giving him a bit of rest to rediscover a bit of form.
According to Gerrard himself, it is a disciplinary issue. The Colombian went back to South America to take care of a family matter but failed to report back to training on time. As a result, he was dropped.
Speaking with Premier Sports TV, Gerrard said:
"“Alfredo is not with us today because of a disciplinary issue. He was given permission to go to Colombia from Sunday to Wednesday to deal with a family matter, which we supported and agreed to. He failed to report to training on Thursday, which means he’s missed a lot of the preparation going into this game.“I’ve decided to pick players that have done the full preparation and are desperate to be here and want to get us through to the next round. I don’t think I should say anything more. I’ve explained the situation nice and clearly.’"
The manager clearly sounds irritated with the situation judging by his statement. Morelos’ disciplinary issues are no secret, they are just easier to accept when he banging in goals. But now that the goals have dried up, Gerrard does not seem too keen to coddle his golden boy.
It is unlikely that Morelos would have been left out of the squad altogether for missing just a day of training. There is clearly more to this than the manager is letting on.