Steven Gerrard admits Alfredo Morelos got special treatment at Rangers

Steven Gerrard revealed he would “turn a blind eye” to Alfredo Morelos at Rangers as he spoke about the challenge of managing the Colombia striker.

The former Liverpool and England captain was boss at Ibrox for three years when the controversial Morelos was a key player.

He scored 17 goals in the 2020-21 season when Rangers claimed the William Hill Premiership title to stop Celtic winning 10-in-a-row.

Gerrard admitted bringing in Jermain Defoe and Kemar Roofe as alternatives to Morelos, who left Rangers in 2023.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Gerrard said: “Morelos at Rangers was tough to manage. Maverick behaviours. He’d bend the rules

“When you’re going into a job, you want to try and set rules and have values of your team and stuff like that.

“Sometimes you’d have to bite your tongue and turn a blind eye to one or two, it’s just trying to not get caught by the players when you’re doing it.

“But yeah, he was important to Rangers and I knew he was so important. I knew the time would come where I could get into a place where he’s maybe less important.

“That’s why I brought Jermain Defoe in. That’s why I brought Kemar Roofe in. Because when he was having these periods, where he would be challenging or break your rules and your values, Defoe and Kemar Roofe were itching to play and they were as good as him.”

Gerrard quit the Govan club for Aston Villa in November 2021 and subsequently had a spell as boss of Saudi Pro-League side Al-Ettifaq

With the benefit of hindsight, he expressed regret that he did not stay longer at Ibrox.

He said: “I regret doing it now, sitting here. I didn’t at the time.

“Also the conversations with Rangers after we won it, the recruitment and the finance chats that we were having, didn’t feel like Rangers were ready to go again.

“It was a bit more of a like, ‘oh, let’s settle this and fix that and do that’. The promises weren’t as strong as what I thought they would be.

“Then the Premier League offer and opportunity comes in, it’s tough. It’s tough to say no to Villa, a great club. I have nothing bad to say about them.”