RANGERS first-team coach Michael Beale claims that Alfredo Morelos is one of the most misunderstood players in football and says that the striker makes him excited to go to work every day.
Beale loves working with Morelos to improve his game, and says that the way he is portrayed is far removed from reality, with the 23-year-old always eager to learn on the training pitch and a positive influence in the changing room.
He says though that Rangers supporters and fans of Scottish football in general should enjoy him while they can, because big clubs elsewhere are sure to be interested in securing his services.
“There are certain players that make you excited to go to work,” Beale told The Beautiful Game podcast.
“He’s one of the most misunderstood people playing in football, certainly in Scotland.
"He went from Colombia to Helsinki then to Rangers to a Spanish-speaking coach [Pedro Caixinha] that left quite early in his time here.
“This is a young boy that needs to be a player rather than wants to be. He needs to be because he’s got a foundation back home in Colombia, he’s doing a lot of things that a young 23-year-old should be applauded for.
“He’s the joker in our changing room, he’s the big smiler that is always playing pranks, and the public don’t get to see that.
“He’s obsessed with scoring every day, he’s not a player who wants to keep possession of the ball and be low risk, he wants to be high risk.
“He’s a maverick, and we have to applaud and celebrate these players, certainly here in Scotland where we need to enjoy him while we can.
“There will be a lot of clubs interested in him, you only have to look at his goalscoring record this year.
“What summed him up for me was his goals against Porto and the two goals away at Feyenoord. He’s now scoring against elite, high-level opposition in a European competition, so it’s fantastic. There’s so much positives around this kid.
“Do I think that the boy has made some mistakes in the past? Yes, I do, but there isn’t a 23-year-old that hasn’t.
“There’s young Scottish and British boys playing in Scotland making similar mistakes and not being picked up on it.
“I don’t want to add to the drama and the weight around it, because what we try to do is to continue working with the boy, because he is genuinely a nice young boy and he’s very misunderstood.”
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