Derek Johnstone suggests Rangers will already be looking for Morelos replacement

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Glasgow Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos is enjoying an incredible season at Ibrox.

Derek Johnstone has told the Evening Times that he expects Rangers will already be looking for Alfredo Morelos’s replacement at Ibrox, as he insisted that it is a matter of when he leaves the Gers rather than if.

Morelos has been outstanding in front of goal this term. He has scored 28 goals in 41 games for Steven Gerrard’s side this season, including 16 in the Scottish Premiership.

It seems highly likely that Rangers will have to field offers for the Colombia international during the summer, as well as every other window he spends on the Gers’ books. And Johnstone admitted that he is not particularly optimistic about the club’s chances of keeping their talisman for much longer – though he did add that he expects Rangers to only sell for a good price.

“Rangers will already be searching for the striker that will replace Alfredo Morelos and the only question is when he moves on and we need that player to come in,” he told the Evening Times.

“Rangers fans are quite right to look at what Dembele moved to Lyon for in the summer and expect Morelos to command a similar fee,” he went on to add.

“He will surpass the number of goals that Dembele scored, so if he went for £20million then why shouldn’t Morelos?”

Unfortunately for Rangers, it is one thing having the money to replace Morelos, but it is going to be incredibly difficult to replace him. Jermain Defoe’s loan spell surely proves that.

Defoe actually boasts a decent return of five goals in nine games, and things appear to have clicked more recently. But he is one of the greatest goalscorers of the Premier League era and would have been a safe bet to be an outstanding signing – yet he has not quite been able to find his best form at Ibrox.

It would be slightly concerning in some ways if Rangers were already looking for Morelos’s replacement. But on the other hand, putting plans in place in case he does go could ensure that they do stand a much better chance of filling the large void that he will leave behind.