With less than 24 hours left of the transfer window left, it would be a shock to see any of Michael Beale’s key players leaving Rangers, those on the fringes might get the chance to go out on loan and the manager even hinted that James Sands might return to New York City if Nicolas Raskin signs on without any last minute hitches.
One of the questions leading up to this window had been whether or not we would cash in on Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent seeing as their respective contracts are running down, however, as reported by The Glasgow Times, the pair are going nowhere, for now:
“I think you’ve got to know them both and keep the talking going and I think as long as there’s honesty, and I mean honestly on my part on their part but more so when we get outside.
“It’s one thing saying something inside like ‘I’m going to be honest with you – I’m going to keep playing you and you are going to be honest with me and keep playing your best.’
“If I’m not true to that or they are not true to that I think that’s different. Then you can break the trust.
“I won’t ever break the trust with those two boys and I don’t think they will with me because of the relationships. The other side of it will come to fruition in the coming weeks.
“The fact that neither is leaving in this window is probably a positive.”
As with Connor Goldson, Kent and Morelos are fully entitled to wait until the end of the season to see what offers they might get. That’s not to say that they will get the chance to move to a “bigger” club – far from it – but, they will have seen Joe Aribo’s wage packet sky rocket to £70,000 per week and would be daft not to seriously consider a similar opportunity should it come their way.
A footballer’s career is short and, for all that they earn a good living at Rangers, moving to a team that is even in the bottom half of most top five leagues will see their weekly salary at least double.
It’s not as easy a decision as we would like it to be, playing for a club the size of Rangers with the chance to win trophies is obviously a huge pull but Kent will have been at the club five years in the summer and Morelos six, almost unheard of in the modern game for players with no previous affiliation to the club.
What I do think though is that we have the best manager in place to deal with the situation and also the most likely to persuade them that money isn’t everything – and he’s got about four months to do it.