Over the course of his six years in Glasgow, chaos and controversy were often familiar companions for Alfredo Morelos.
So fiery was his temperament that, even if he found himself locked away in an empty room, the former Rangers striker could still have found a source of conflict.
Whether it was red cards, bust-ups with opponents, spats with his own managers and team-mates, off-field drama, or breaking various club records, the combustible Colombian was rarely out of the headlines.
Morelos has been the talk of the steamie once again over recent days after former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard spoke about him on a podcast earlier this week.
‘Morelos at Rangers was tough to manage,’ recalled Gerrard. ‘Maverick behaviours. He’d bend the rules. When you’re going into a job, you want to try and set rules and have values of your team and stuff like that.
‘Sometimes you’d have to bite your tongue and turn a blind eye to one or two, it’s just trying to not get caught by the players when you’re doing it. But, yeah, he was important to Rangers. I knew he was so important.’
Alfredo Morelos scored an impressive 124 goals for Rangers during his stay in Scotland
It was interesting to hear Gerrard speak retrospectively about a player who, for all his baggage, became instrumental during the former Liverpool and England captain’s time as manager.
Andy Halliday also tells some great tales about Morelos, having spent three years as a team-mate at Ibrox between 2017-2020.
Speaking a couple of years ago, Halliday said of his former team-mate: ‘He is the worst I’ve ever seen at running (in training). If he properly pushed himself like people do, he could’ve done better.
‘On the first day of pre-season, you would do a fitness test. You would be split into three groups — the best eight, the middle eight and the bottom eight.
‘And then it would just be Alfredo Morelos. He would just be in his own group, running himself.’
When Morelos first arrived at Rangers, signing from HJK Helsinki for a fee of £800,000 in the summer of 2017, his talent was not immediately obvious.
On his first start for his new club, Rangers, then under the command of Pedro Caixinha, suffered a 2-0 humiliation as they were knocked out of Europe by the minnows of Progres Niederkorn.
At that point, with Caixinha knee-deep in shrubbery whilst arguing with supporters, nobody could have foreseen that Morelos would go on to become the Ibrox club’s all-time top goalscorer in European competition with 29 goals in 63 matches.
Given that he was signed by Caixinha, he could easily have become collateral damage given the manner in which things unravelled under the Portuguese coach.
But Morelos would score 18 goals in 43 games across that debut season in Scottish football, a decent return given that Rangers as a club were in turmoil.
Former boss Steven Gerrard admits the combustible striker was ‘tough to manage’ at times
Indeed, he would go on to score 124 goals in 269 matches across his six years in Glasgow, finishing as the club’s top scorer in four of those six seasons.
He also received eight red cards across those six seasons, the most of any player in the club’s history. The fact that Morelos tops the club’s all-time list of red cards, as well as goals in Europe, encapsulates his Ibrox story.
His capacity for self-sabotage was unrivalled, to the extent that it would often undermine his own talents on the pitch. His fitness and attitude could also leave a lot to be desire.
In 2023, shortly before Morelos left the club, Rangers boss Michael Beale said following a game against Aberdeen: ‘You saw a difference when Alfredo came on in terms of energy. But not a positive difference.’
Ouch. In a chaotic 2018-19 season, Gerrard had said that he ‘could not defend him any more’ after Morelos had been sent off for a fifth time in the campaign in a match away at Celtic Park.
Morelos missed the Europa League Final against Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 due to injury and that will forever be viewed as a ‘what-if?’ moment for Rangers fans.
Yet, just a few months later, he was bombed out of the squad by boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst on the eve of a vital Champions League qualifiers against PSV Eindhoven.
Back in 2020, there were claims that his wife had hired a private investigator to track his movements, and even allegations that someone had been seen tampering with his car.
Neil McCann once described him as ‘an idiot’ for goading Hearts supporters. There was an apology from Sky Sports after an interview was wrongly translated and stated that Morelos had claimed he was racially abused by Celtic fans.
On and off the pitch, there was never a dull moment with Morelos. Part of the reason why Rangers fans still talk about him to this day is because they have never truly replaced him.
The Columbian was hated by opposition fans but idolised by the Rangers support
You certainly wonder how Danny Rohl’s side might fare in the title race if they had a prime Morelos fit and firing up front. Yet, it has been a strange career.
Even though he allegedly had interest from across Europe when he was in his pomp at Rangers, Morelos had a lack of suitors when he left in the summer of 2023.
It took him three months to eventually find a new club, signing a two-year deal with Brazilian side Santos. Safe to say, though, he was not the second coming of Pele or Neymar.
Santos were swiftly relegated for the first time in their history and Morelos was exiled from the squad once again over fresh questions about his fitness and attitude.
After just four goals in 20 appearances, his time with Santos ended in a bitter dispute over unpaid wages, before they allowed him to leave on a free transfer to join Atletico Nacional in his homeland.
A return of 41 goals in 105 games over the past three seasons suggests there’s plenty of life left in Morelos yet. At 29 years old, he’s by no means on the scrapheap.
He would be a significant upgrade on anything Rangers have up front right now. Youssef Chermiti, Ryan Naderi, Bojan Miovski; none of them have scaled the heights Morelos did during his time in Glasgow.
Most Rangers fans would give their right arm to have him back. They know he would walk into this current team.
If Rohl had a striker like Morelos at his disposal, this season’s league title could already be wrapped up and in the bag.
Naderi has yet to score a league goal in seven appearances following a £4.5million move from Hansa Rostock in January.
Chermiti has chipped in with some stunning goals in big matches. Eight of his nine goals for Rangers have come against either Celtic or Hearts.
Against the other teams, he just doesn’t threaten anywhere near enough. Miovski, meanwhile, looks a shadow of the player he was at Aberdeen.
Rangers could go top of the table for the first time in two years this afternoon if they can beat Dundee United at Ibrox.
It’s a big opportunity. But they are so powderpuff in attack that few would be willing to wager much on them getting the job done.
We may be approaching the three-year anniversary since he left Ibrox, but the madness of Morelos is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.
He drove every manager he worked with up the bend. But the combustible Colombian gave Rangers a level of firepower few of his successors have been able to match.
