In a recent interview, former Rangers defender Michael Ball has tipped Steven Gerrard to allow Ibrox star Alfredo Morelos to leave this summer, which would be a huge blow ahead of next season.

Speaking to Football Transfer Tavern, the 41-year-old pundit said:

“It’s a difficult one, you don’t like seeing your good players or your key players leave a football club, no matter what level, but unfortunately when they start getting in the limelight and doing the business worldwide, clubs do want to come in for these players.

“It’s down to Rangers to accept the figure that they demand and if a club wants to come in and stump up that fee, I think Steven will be happy for him to move on and wish him well. But then give Steven the treasure chest to go and bring in the new players to keep the club moving forward for the next couple of years.”

Morelos has been a key fixture at Rangers since joining the club from HJK Helsinki in 2017, making 182 appearances and contributing an impressive 94 goals and 43 assists.

'El Bufalo' also wrote himself into Ibrox history when he broke Ally McCoist's record of goals for the club in Europe with a goal against Benfica last November, and therefore he is exactly the type of player that Gerrard will be desperate to keep in his squad as they prepare for a return to the Champions League next term.

After he previously equalled the Gers' European record with a goal against Lech Poznan, Gerrard was full of praise for the forward, saying: "It's fantastic for him from a personal point of view. Alfredo's a top-class player, a top-class goalscorer, and it's fantastic that he's still here."

[snack-amp-story url="https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-rangers-transfer-rumours-and-news" title="Read the latest Rangers transfer rumours and news!"]

The 24-year-old was also a key player for Rangers as they secured the league title this season, with his 11 goals and three assists in the Premiership helping him to average an impressive 7.20/10 rating from WhoScored for his performances, which was the sixth-best score of any player in Gerrard's squad.

Although selling the £10.8m-rated forward would raise cash which Rangers could reinvest, as Ball suggests, it would be something of a nightmare to sell their top European goalscorer of all time ahead of the Gers' return to Champions League football.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776"]

Therefore, Gerrard must avoid selling the Colombia international this summer if he can, as the 24-year-old has proven himself to be a hugely important player at Ibrox in recent years.

In other news... Gerrard dealt major Rangers transfer blow over "fantastic" star