DMAA

Daily Record saying Rangers are making enquiries about Jack Hendry. Again if true, it would suggest Rangers are at least looking at where the Morelos money could go. I haven't seen him play, and though he might be a great future player he probably wouldn't make much difference to the team this season starting ahead of either Alves, Bates, Martin or McRorie.

Exact same age, but definitely not a replacement. Morelos is an all rounder, McBurnie isn't so would have to get a lot of goals in the air to accommodate and a lot of assists for the likes of Cummings and Murphy.

The article mentioned a possible buying option in the summer. Could we get Dalcio out to accommodate? Why on earth is he still here anyway/

In for McBurnie. Only way he comes in is if Morelos goes, so if true it suggests Rangers are seriously considering selling. If he's as good in the air as they say, he would put away a lot more of Candeias and Tavernier's crosses. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/2167733/rangers-oliver-mcburnnie-swansea/

It’s the way to go. It’s at that age you can get the best value. I’d advocate far more money being spent on 16-19 year olds. The youth team should be full of internationals and future title winners, not random kids who’d just make the bench at Stenhousemuir.

So is Kal Naismith another player we underestimated, like Fleck? If he’s out of contract in the summer he’s probably a better player to have on the bench than the likes of Kranjcar and Herrera.

In any case, Rangers have to be sure to go back to Helsinki and have a very close look at their other young imports. I remember from the Morelos clips on YouTube some other very good foreign players around him, all around his age.

Definitely getting towards a figure we could accept. But the bottom line is who we could bring in and they don’t seem to be confident they’ve got a realistic target in mind.

I think you’d get the best out of Herrera if paired with Cummings, it would be a big man - wee man partnership which would suit his style far more than being a lone striker. However I’m not at all convinced the “best of Herrera” is very good. Morelos is a unique app round striker and very hard to replace imo.

Tyler Roberts is away http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11698/11229698/leeds-agree-deal-for-west-brom-youngster-tyler-roberts

Just read that they paid “upwards of £5m” and most of his 40k a week wages (which is £2m a year). That would explain why Chelsea let him go for such a ridiculously length of time. As you say good news for us ultimately because it just means they are being propped up by players who don’t belong to them and won’t make them money.

Great result. It must be because of this games programme that we don’t see these guys making the bench. Hopefully after a summer clear out opportunities will arise for some of them.

The number wasn't released but as with Musonda they said it was a 7 figure fee. So although those are two loan signings, their spending is well into the millions for the season.

I suppose we could do what everyone else is doing and only agree to sell if we get him loaned straight back to us. In any case, I'd stick rather than twist. A 26 year old Cuellar went for £7.8m in 2008, a 23 year old Hutton went for £9m in 2008, a 25 year old Boumsong went for £8m in 2004 (that's £11.5m in today's money). Morelos is 21 and a striker (traditionally worth far more than defenders). It's not a lot of money in the context of the money around today.

By this stage of the window we couldn't possibly get good value on a replacement, we'd just get ripped off.

The worry here is Morelos losing form due to wanting a move, much like Dembele. I think he'll be worth more in the summer. He has far more creativity and a better all round team behind than the first half of the season so a great chance of more than doubling his tally so far.

Replace him with Kris Boyd. Low-ball Killie to unsetle him and get him to force a move?

Keeping with a 4-2-3-1, could Cummings possibly swap in for Windass in that behind-the-striker role? I think he'd be more dangerous than Windass there, better at long shots and as a natural striker would get into better positions.

I think the 4 at the back will stay because Tavernier and John have done well. The diamond is a possibility but that doesn't really work very well with the players we have. 4-2-3-1 allows Murphy in particular more freedom to attack and get some goals.

Very good article. I feel sorry for defenders sometimes because very often their reputation is at the mercy of their managers tactics. Walter Smith made Danny Wilson, Kirk Broadfoot etc look rock solid, even against the likes of Man Utd at Old Trafford. Warburton may have brought Tavernier to Rangers but he was also at fault for making him look very poor defensively. Tierney's stats are surprisingly bad. Even with a high score for duels % it's almost as though he avoids them with how low his duels per 90 score is. To be fair it could be that wingers go for deeper crosses against him rather than trying to beat him, that would also explain the low cross blocking score.

I had assumed it would be a bosman actually. Would be good for the club to at least get a couple of hundred thousand.

Still disappointing for Rangers to lose a first team starter for nothing when we're in the financial condition we are. At 26 and playing well he could have at least fetched 500k with a year or two on his contract. Disappointing on that front, but it sounds like it was 100% his fault so no need to dwell on it. Main thing is to get David Bates tied down, hopefully this gives him some encouragement to do that because he should be starting alongside Martin now. There's a potential McRorie-Bates home grown long term partnership there. If those two fulfill their potential that would be fantastic for the club.

Apparently a bid for Dembele was “nowhere near” Celtic’s valuation. He’s not going anywhere this month, the Dembele Dollar has crashed against the pound and they are clearly in total denial.

Is there nowhere at all to listen to this game?

I'm a little bit worried about this one for a few reasons. Main one is the lost warm up match at the weekend, in comparison to Aberdeen getting a perfect warm up match against decent opposition. Three new signings starting (probably) could backfire too, they're getting thrown in at the deep end. Danny Wilson apparently not starting and David Bates not in the squad also a worry. Hope I'm wrong and the new signings rise to the occasion and Murty does it again, after all big games is his speciality.