Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has taken his game to another level this season as the 23-year-old Colombian striker evolves into a more rounded, more disciplined and more lethal forward.
In the same space of time up to October last season, Morelos managed six yellow cards, two reds and eight goals.
In the same period this year, it’s three yellows, no reds and thirteen strikes. It’s a meaty return which has seen Morelos named in the provisional Colombia squad for the next international break.
There’s a growing maturity to the striker’s game, something which is personified by an improvement in his discipline on the pitch.
Gone are the petulant arguments with referees, the cheeky clashes with the opposition and the tendency to get himself involved in any off-the-ball fracas.
What remains is a physical, powerful striker with an innate ability to run at players and drag the ball with him, or through them. This is El Bufalo at his finest.
Nothing of the physical, terrifying nature of his forward play has diminished; quite the opposite.
And whilst some might focus on his improved discipline in terms of bookings and cards [Daily Record], Steven Gerrard has been more impressed with Morelos’ improved disciplined in terms of his performances.
“Listen, I’m not going to take any credit for that performance,” said Gerrard after the Aberdeen match [Four Four Two].
“He is the one who is dropping into these interesting areas, into the pockets, overloading the middle of the pitch.
“He was the one who was trying to drag the Aberdeen players out of position. He was on the left, the right, he scores a header, he had other chances. He was focused on his performance and nothing else.”
It’s been an evolution that the adoring Rangers support always knew was in Morelos, but perhaps one they did not expect to see so steep, so soon.
And the frightening thing for the rest of the league is that he might have a few levels to take his game up yet.
