Rangers will be in the Champions League next season, group stage football is the obvious target, but for now, there is an incentive for players already at the club, and for those potentially being targeted, to think about.
With football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, tipping the Light Blues to keep their star men, Steven Gerrard’s former England team-mate, Danny Mills believes that Alfredo Morelos – rated at £20million by the club – could be the jewel in the crown ahead of the club’s first assault on the continent’s premier competition in a decade and shock fans by staying for at least another year, as reported by Football Insider:
“Possibly.
“Champions League is a great pull and you’re going to be playing. Where else is he going to be guaranteed Champions League football and playing?
“He may well be a squad player if he moves.
“Without a doubt, if I was him, if you’re in the Champions League it has to be worth thinking about, that’s for sure.”
The Champions League doesn’t just provide a huge financial boost if the group stages are made, the added benefits that it brings are equally as seismic, it can be the difference between having to sell key players or being able to attract them.
Just look at Celtic, when they started to miss out on the group stages they had to get rid of players like Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney to balance the books, a strategy that only works for so long and fails if you get recruitment wrong, Rangers are in pole position now and it would no longer be a surprise if Morelos stays for longer, when once it looked an inevitability that he would be heading out the door.