Sources: Rangers star Alfredo Morelos demands £45,000-a-week
Rangers have failed to agree a new contract with Alfredo Morelos after he demanded £45,000-a-week, sources have told Football Insider.
The striker, 26, is out of contract at the end of the season and talks over an extension have failed to secure an agreement.
It is believed that Morelos told Rangers during discussions he wanted a pay hike that would make him the highest paid player at the club.
Ibrox chiefs were unwilling to offer a deal on those terms and talks ground to a halt.
Morelos can now agree a pre-contract with a cross-border club from 1 January and then leave as a free transfer next summer.
Rangers chairman Douglas Park hinted at the club’s AGM earlier this week that talks are unlikely to be resurrected when he was quizzed over the futures of contract rebels Morelos and Ryan Kent.
Park seemed to suggest that Rangers had made the best offers they could, but that isn’t always enough.
He said: “The board tried to negotiate and sometimes if the terms are unattainable you have to accept you have done your best.”
Kent has remained a key member of the starting XI this season, while Morelos’ form has dramatically collapsed and he has been usurped as the number one striker by summer arrival Antonio Colak.
Rangers had looked set to lose Connor Goldson for free in the summer before he performed a dramatic U-turn and opted to sign a new contract.
That is unlikely to happen with Morelos, who has lost his regular starting place and has scored just three goals from his 19 matches this season.
Rangers announced record annual revenues of £88million in their most recent set of financial results, covering the 2021-22 season.
That included a wage bill of £55m, which is also a club record.
In other news, Kieran Maguire: Rangers fear wrath of shareholders as cash injection now on the cards