Gerrard lifts lid on Rangers' Morelos problem
Former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard says "maverick" Alfredo Morelos was "tough to manage" and admits the striker's unruly behaviour was part of the reason behind the signings of Jermain Defoe and Kemar Roofe. Morelos scored 46 goals in 96 games during Gerrard's three-year spell in Glasgow but the ex-England skipper says the Colombian would often "bend the rules", particularly after scoring. The 29-year-old joined Rangers in 2017 from HJK Helsinki and scored 84 goals over his six years in Govan.
Defoe arrived from Bournemouth in 2020, three years before the end of Morelos' Ibrox stint, and Roofe moved from Anderlecht that same year. "Morelos was tough to manage," Gerrard told The Overlap . "Maverick behaviours.
He was so important to Rangers because he was the goals but he was challenging, he'd bend the rules. "After he scored a brace or a hat-trick you always knew something was in the post, whether it was him being late or something else. "You want to try and set rules and values for your team.
Sometimes you'd have to bite your tongue and turn a blind eye to one or two. "He was so important to Rangers and I knew he was so important but I knew the time would come where I could get him to a place where he was less important. That's why I brought Jermain Defoe and Kemar Roofe in.
"When he was having these periods where he would be challenging or breaking rules, Defoe and Roofe were itching to play and they were just as good as him. "