"Do you believe me now?" - Crystal Palace's hopes of signing 24-goal star suffer blow - opinion

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has issued a hands-off warning to any potential suitors for Alfredo Morelos, claiming that the striker is not for sale at any price following yet another masterclass on the European stage.

Morelos became the first player in Rangers’ history to score in four successive major European ties, while the Colombia international also surpassed the great Henrik Larsson’s record of 12 goals in a single European campaign after netting his 13th of the season.

What did he say?

As reported by the Belfast Telegraph, Gerrard said: “Do you believe me now? He’s not for sale. He’s not for sale at any price!”

Before kick-off, the former Liverpool captain reinforced Gers chairman Dave King’s statement that he wouldn’t sell Morelos for £40m, saying: “No – and you can add another £10m on as well.”

Obstacles in the way of a Palace move are mounting

With each passing game, the 23-year-old just keeps on finding the back of the net – we’re not even into December yet, and the diminutive forward already has a quite ridiculous 24 goals and seven assists in 27 games.

One can only imagine where Rangers would be without him both domestically and in Europe, and as his importance to the Scottish giants increases, as too does their negotiating stance.

That isn’t to say that there’s absolutely no chance of the south Londoners signing him, but reports suggesting that Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman will enter a £20m battle with Aston Villa over Morelos now feel like that sum won’t be anywhere near enough.

Rangers could very easily point to the fact that Kieran Tierney – a left-back who had nowhere near the influence on results that Morelos currently has – went to Arsenal for £25m, and with the way things are going at the moment, Parish and Freedman don’t have a leg to stand on in terms of trying to knock down the price.

In other news, the Eagles supporters on Twitter have been discussing the news that a Premier League rival has entered the race for this star striker…

from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/2DvY8JA