Football clubs across the world are struggling financial due to the impact caused by coronavirus with Rangers being no different, as revealed by the latest accounts.
Keeping hold of star men like Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent in the summer was a sign of intent from the board but Alan Hutton, speaking to Football Insider, believes that these “assets” will eventually be sold to help balance the books.
So what has Hutton said?
When asked if he thought that the Colombian international could be heading out the door sooner, rather than later, he said:
“Yeah, probably. I think if they got the number that they were looking for, was it just over £20million for Morelos, I think they would have taken it.
“It would have kind of balanced up the books a little bit but I think if we’re looking at Rangers from an overall squad, there’s a lot of big assets in there.
“I know they don’t want to sell any, especially going for 55 titles but they’ve got a lot of assets and a lot of money that they could get from some players so I don’t think it’s a massive problem at the moment but moving forward, I think they could recoup some of that money through players.”
So is Hutton correct?
Absolutely, and that is exactly what the business model should be, buying cheap and selling high. You only have to look across the city to realise that, but for the sale of Kieran Tierney, Celtic’s loss would be £10m more than our reported £15.9m.
We now have a squad valued in the region of £170m, a far cry from when the likes of Joe Dodoo and Harry Forrester were lining up alongside Kenny Miller et al, and part of Ross Wilson’s job is to make sure that we have replacements lined up for players who could potentially be on their way.
Calvin Bassey and Cedric Itten can contribute now, but it is also clear that they are being bedded in for when the big names move on, softening the blow in the process. Hutton is right, eventually the main men will be sold – but not before 55 is secured and the Scottish Premiership trophy sits in the famous trophy room once again.