Newcastle United are apparently leading the £20m race to sign Alfredo Morelos with Leicester City and Everton ready to join the fight!
The former HJK Helsinki starlet has heard and read it all before in the eight previous transfer windows since he moved to Scotland without a single realistic bid being made.
CBS Soccer is the initial source for the latest yarn with the usual sources keen to jump on it and add some magic moonbeams in terms of clubs and fees.
Transfer News LIVE! Alfredo Morelos ‘lined up by three English Premier League clubs’https://t.co/PDxbGn42dV pic.twitter.com/X3OmfsolW9
— Football Scotland (@Football_Scot) January 3, 2022
The American based website reckons that Newcastle have $100m to spend in their bid to avoid relegation with Morelos given a name-check on the list:
Newcastle have had to change their priorities and focus on finding a striker after forward Callum Wilson and winger Allan Saint-Maximin both suffered calf injuries in the spirited 1-1 draw with Manchester United on December 27. Saint-Maximin should be back for the crucial home game against fourth-bottom Watford on January 15, but Wilson faces a few months on the sidelines. It’s a huge blow considering he has scored six of Newcastle’s 19 Premier League goals to date.
The ideal addition is Rangers’ in-form Colombian forward Alfredo Morelos. The 25-year-old has scored 107 goals since moving to Glasgow for a bargain fee of $1.35 million from HJK Helsinki in 2017. Morelos has 13 goals and four assists in all competitions in 2021-22 and looks far more settled under new manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Steven Gerrard had a slightly more fractured relationship with Morelos and it’s perhaps telling that Aston Villa are not one of the clubs looking at him.
During his time at Ibrox, Gerrard admitted he didn’t know when Morelos was returning from a break after the Copa America and also called him out for creating “noise” about a move away. Along with Newcastle, Everton and Leicester are also considering a $27 million swoop. And Howe, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers are three coaches well suited to managing what Morelos self-terms his “big personality.”
It is difficult to see a bad tempered Colombian with weight issues being part of Eddie Howe’s survival plans when he can make a choice from a variety of European based strikers. Someone tried and tested outside of scoring against Motherwell and St Mirren is likely to carry more appeal to the former Bournemouth boss.
With his contract running out in May 2023 this month is a vital time for the Ibrox club to recover any sort of fee for the 25-year-old.
