One of the biggest talking points this season alongside our stuttering form and horrendous injury list has been the impending squad rebuild with players like Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos currently set to walk away from the club for nothing.
In the summer, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was asked about the hopes of the pair putting pen to paper on new deals and that talks were underway, as reported by The Herald:
“We are in talks, especially with players who will come into the last year of their contracts.
“In the last year attention will come to your players but so far the interest we have in our players is not very high apart from Joe of course.
“But in football you never know you just have to wait and see what happens in the future.”
As part of the pre-match press conference for St Mirren, as covered by The Rangers Review, Gio was once again approached about the pair but gave a more cryptic answer:
“I’m very confident and positive but it doesn’t mean it will happen. We’ll see. I’m a very positive person but it’s not my decision. It’s very difficult for me to say if new contracts will happen.”
As we saw last season, such is their right, players can wait as long as they want before making their decision. Connor Goldson’s contract, technically, expired before he was announced as having signed a new deal.
Fans might want to see the pair replaced or have the team freshened up, however, it would cost a lot of money to replace the pair either in transfer fees and/or wages. If they are under contract with Rangers, even lowball offers are easier to consider should we decide to go in a different direction – at 26-years old, they are also both still saleable assets.
Personally, I would want them to stay but I understand the frustration with Kent’s lack of goals, for me though, he still has enough credit in the bank to be given the option, especially when you consider the consistency of some of our other wingers.
As for Morelos, I think he will commit, the only question is when?