Rangers handed boost as Lille president Gerard Lopez explains why they’ve ‘paused’ pursuit of Alfredo Morelos
Lille have ‘hit the pause button’ on their pursuit of Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos.
The Ligue 1 club have been chasing the Colombia international this summer and have made a £16million bid.
Lille have already signed Canadian striker Jonathan David from Gent and are mulling over a move for the Rangers forward.
Club president Gerard Lopez joined talkSPORT to explain the latest with the move for Morelos.
Lopez told Jim White: “We have (bid £16m). He’s obviously a good player.
"We had a primary target who was Jonathan David and who we got. He’s locked into a certain system with a number of players already around him.
“We obviously are entering a transfer window that is longer than usual.
"The key thing for us is to analyse how what we have already comes together and that is something the coach is looking at before we make any other additions.
“He’s a great player, we’ve bid for him and we like him but at this stage we are in a situation where we want to understand… we haven’t had time to prepare at all. It’s been a really odd preparation.
“We know we have a lot of talent. We have lots of offensive material and we’ve hit the pause button at this stage.
"We will wait it out a couple of weeks and see where we are. Then make a final decision on if we need someone else in the transfer market."
When asked about the chances of Lille going back in for Morelos, Lopez said: “I wouldn’t be able to tell you. The chances of an owner going back in is very dependent on the coach.”
Rangers appeared to be preparing for life without Morelos by signing two strikers earlier this month, landing Kemar Roofe from Anderlecht and Cedric Itten from FC St Gallen.
Manager Steven Gerrard has said Morelos is ‘nowhere near’ an exit, with no clubs so far matching Rangers’ valuation of their talisman, who scored 29 goals for the Glasgow giants last season.
talkSPORT host Jim White was joined on air by Lille defender Jose Fonte on Wednesday, who was quizzed on the continuing Morelos links.
And he said Lille have ‘got the striker we wanted’ in a boost to the Gers.
“To be honest, Jim, I think we’re in good shape,” the former Southampton and West Ham centre-back told talkSPORT.
“We got the striker that we wanted, Jonathan David, we’ve got Burak Yilmaz, the Turkish striker, we’ve got another one or two young boys who have been with us for a few years…
“So in that aspect, I think we’re okay."