Barry Ferguson calls out Rangers star for being ‘overweight’

Barry Ferguson believes that one Rangers superstar may be too big to fit in his own shirt after the long break.

In recent seasons you might have thought Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos was too big for his boots. Barry Ferguson is worried the Colombian might be too big for his shirt. And if Castore don’t extend their range beyond the current XL maximum – who knows what will happen!

Ferguson has plenty of experience of how footballers need to manage their diet carefully to avoid problems.  His liking for pickled onion Monster Munch crisps was part of his downfall when the then Rangers manager Paul Le Guen told him he’d not play for the club again.

Talking to the Daily Record Ferguson spoke about how all eyes, and especially Steven Gerrard’s, will be on Morelos when he returns for training next week. That’s going to be pretty critical for many reasons. Morelos can make a difference on the pitch but that seems to be subject to three key things. Attitude, fitness and of course, him not being suspended so he can get on the pitch.

He couldn’t hit a barn door for much of the second half of the season and much was made of a downturn in attitude but also as he looked pretty out of shape. Maybe he needed more running around chasing private investigators down the street to build his fitness. Or maybe it’s why he couldn’t catch them!

With that second half of the season in mind, combined with the interruption to formal training and fitness sessions by the curtailed end of season, Ferguson is worried about Morelos’s shape. He wants to see the player who started last season, bursting with energy.

"“Not the one who came back after the winter break looking a bit overweight and very much out of sorts.”"

To be fair, lockdown has got most of us snacking a bit more and lots of people will admit to overdoing chocolate or other such pleasures. But then we aren’t highly paid football players where fitness is a key component of our performance.

Apart from the impact on his playing form, Morelos’s fitness could be a key factor in the Rangers finances too. Coronavirus has affected so much in football but for the light blues in particular it leaves a massive hole in cash flow and the usual dilemma about will they sell Morelos raises its head again.

His true value is always up for much debate and swings enormously and ridiculously at times.  If he does get sold, it’d have to be for huge money to pacify supporters in the critical 10-in-a-row season. But in a deflated market, where his behaviour and temperament remains questionable, who’d pay big, or even any, money for an out of shape player available for just some of your games?

For several transfer windows we’ve all looked on at the sideshow of whether or not there are any bids for the player, what he’s worth and how much the Rangers might need the money. And each time he isn’t sold there’s been a bigger contract to keep him happy. We’ll all have to wait and see again, only this time the money is perhaps particularly critical.