Scottish Premiership challengers Rangers reportedly wanted to raid Croatian outfit NK Osijek once again for £3m striker Mirko Maric.
In 40 games, Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe have scored 33 goals between them for Rangers so far this season.
The prolific Defoe has 13 to his name, including 10 in 10 Premiership fixtures, while Morelos has hit 20 before Bonfire Night thanks to his League Cup semi-final masterclass against a beleaguered Hearts at Hampden Park.
And when you consider that The Gers paid a combined £1 million in transfer fees to bring the firebrand Colombian and the evergreen Englishman to Glasgow, their remarkable record in front of goal is even more eye-catching.
Even Mirko Maric, the Croatian number nine who was linked with a big-money move to Ibrox over the summer, cannot hold a candle to Defoe or Morelos right now – though that is not to say his own statistics are not seriously impressive.
According to the Daily Record, Rangers were eyeing a potential £3 million deal to make Maric their most expensive signing since fellow Croat Nikica Jelavic arrived from Rapid Vienna almost a decade ago.
Standing at 6ft 2ins, Maric is more of an old-school targetman than the nimble Defoe and the ferocious, all-action Morelos and he’d have given Gerrard something very different in attack. So far in 2019/20, Maric has seven goals in 13 league games for Osijek, a record better than one in two. On average, he hits the back of the net every 154 minutes.
But that’s nothing compared to Defoe (a goal every 57 minutes) and Morelos (every 77 minutes).
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