Rangers have added numbers to the attack this summer, however, news of Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos potentially missing the Champions League qualifiers is a serious blow, especially after suffering a similar fate last season.
In Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman, we have at least secured forwards who are comfortable playing centrally and are capable of leading the line on their own, perhaps more importantly, they also have the potential to score goals at this level.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s pre-season plans took a dent when the second half against Sunderland was called to a premature halt, but he was pleased to get more of his squad minutes against Blackpool though and seeing his new signings get onto the pitch for the first time too.
The absence of Fashion Sakala raised a few eyebrows but, speaking after the game, Gio, via The Glasgow Times, was quick to play down reports of a potential departure and also gave an encouraging update on some of the players currently on the sidelines:
“For some players it was their first game of pre-season and I was really happy nearly everyone could feature and get minutes.
“We prepare now for a big week because we are playing two really good quality opponents. After that we prepare for the start of the season.
“Morelos is doing partial training with the team now, Filip is still not training with us he had a setback so we have to wait and see how that is developing.
“Fashion got a knock in training on Thursday. He trained Friday but wasn’t feeling 100 per cent so we decided not to take him. Alex (Lowry) is still in recovery.”
The nature of Morelos’s surgery was never fully revealed with it looking increasingly unlikely that it was a minor thigh tear that he suffered on international duty in April, the cautious nature of his progression and volume of gym work suggests that a rupture to his main quadricep muscle has been the cause for his absence.
It’s one area where the club needs to be more open rather than news filtering out on Twitter, we aren’t asking for specific information or exact dates for a return but a simplified update of where players are in their respective stage of recovery, whether that’s light ball work, full training or doing simple strength work in the gym.
Gio hasn’t said that Morelos and Roofe won’t be back until September and yet that is what is being reported by well respected fan media sites, surely this is the sort of detail that should be reported on the club’s website or by the manager via Rangers TV? It’s the simple things, the smaller details, that we still aren’t getting right.
The players will be back when they are fully fit! It’s impossible for the club to put dates to their comebacks we are dealing with medical conditions. The media are guessing as usual ,get over it they will be back asap!