There was a time when Rangers fans would have loved having their players called up for international duty, however, in the case of Alfredo Morelos, the very thought of him heading to Colombia is enough to bring them out in cold sweats.
We’ve already lost him for four games this season when he had to suffer the ignominy of sitting in the stands for every fixture, missing an Old Firm derby in the process, but what options do Rangers and the player actually have.
In short, it’s all down to Morelos.
The club could request that he gets released early to travel home but, as we saw at the end of February, no manager is going to send players home until the very last minute in case of injuries during training and if the club refuses to release him then Colombia, through FIFA, would be within their rights to stop him playing anyway.
Part of the problem is that Colombia are struggling to score goals so it may be that Morelos gets his chance to impress, after all, none of the other forwards have exactly been in sparkling form and the player will know this.
Which makes it even less likely that he would turn down the chance to represent his country.
This is the only way that he wouldn’t have to travel if he either makes himself unavailable or says that he is carrying an injury and isn’t fit enough but we all know how much Morelos loves his country.
In fairness, it isn’t like he would be arriving back on the day of the game and will, at least, have a couple of days to recover from the travelling, it’s just so frustrating watching your best player fly to the other side of the world only to never step foot on the pitch, I suppose he can’t get injured in the stands though – every cloud and all that.