RANGERS are not currently involved in any active discussions with Lille about Alfredo Morelos despite a report in France today stating the two clubs are negotiating a transfer fee after personal terms were agreed.
The Ligue 1 outfit are keen to land the Colombian, who has finished the last three seasons as the top scorer at Ibrox, and held talks with their Premiership counterparts about the player earlier this summer.
But Rangers value their talismanic striker highly and are, despite the coronavirus pandemic causing dire financial problems for clubs across European football, unprepared to let him leave for below their asking price.
An initial offer from Lille, who finished fourth in their domestic league last season and are about to pocket a reported £55m fee for Napoli-bound Victor Osimhen, was described as "some way short" of what they are looking for.
Morelos is currently Rangers' only fit centre forward after Jermain Defoe picked up a hamstring injury in the pre-season friendly against Motherwell last Wednesday evening.
It seems inconceivable they would offload him without anyone to play in attack in his place with the Premiership getting underway on Saturday with a difficult away match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Steven Gerrard, the Rangers manager, admitted publicly following the 2-0 win over English League One champions Coventry City at the weekend that he has told his board he has to strengthen his squad, up front in particular, further.
“We need more,” he said. “I’ve told the club that. I’ve been open and honest about what I feel we need.
“In terms of where we’re at from a financial point of view, they’re questions for other people. But I’ve made it quite clear that we need to add to what we’ve got.
“We need to add players into the XI to make us stronger and naturally that will make the squad stronger. I’ve been pretty open about that so at the moment we still need more.
“That (striker) is the one area that's giving me a slight concern as we haven't got enough numbers in that area. But we are actively looking to try to add in that area.”
However, if Lille, who are poised to bring in experienced Turkish predator Burak Yilmaz from Besiktas this week, table an offer in the region of £15m for a player who has scored just once in 2020 Rangers could be tempted to accept it.
RMC Sport reporter Mohamed Bouhafsi posted on Twitter yesterday that “Alfredo Morelos has agreed personal terms with Lille. The club is now negotiating with Rangers over a fee”. That talks are active was dismissed by an Ibrox source last night.
Rangers have been repeatedly linked with moves for Lyndon Dykes of Livingston, who Barnsley failed to land last week after having a £1m bid rejected, and Florian Kamberi, who spent the second half of last season in Govan on loan from Hibernian, during lockdown.
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