Kemar Roofe to spearhead Rangers' attack in Alfredo Morelos' absence

Glasgow Rangers boss Steven Gerrard signed Kemar Roofe from Anderlecht earlier this month keeping an eye on the impending departure of ace striker Alfredo Morelos to French club Lille.

Although the Colombian has started the new Scottish premier league with his usual bullish scoring touch speculation about his departure from Ibrox has forced Gerrard to reinforce his attacking line up should the time come for Morelos to leave the Scottish shores for pastures new in northern France.

The former Liverpool captain has acted with shrewd judgement to bring in a natural goal scoring talent in the form of former Leeds United player Kemar Roofe. 

Rangers are still maintaining a tough stand over the potential transfer of Morelos with the player agreeing personal terms with Lille but the two clubs not able to reach a permanent solution till now.

Signing Roofe from Anderlecht and Cedric Itten from Swiss side St. Gallen indicates that the club is preparing for the ultimate contingency plan. At the moment, though, with Morelos still at Glasgow, Gerrard has plenty of attacking options to look forward to going into another weekend of Scottish football.

The arrival of the 27 year old Roofe gives the club versatility going forward. He was given his debut last week against St.Johnstone and was understandably short of match fitness but his sharpness on few occasions on the pitch proves that with the requisite training Roofe will be able to reach the peak and start making the difference on the pitch.

The former West Bromwich Albion trainee was Marcelo Bielsa's star performer in the 2018-19 season as Leeds United fell off the pace in their bid for promotion to the Premier League. 

Roofe was excellent in that season scoring 15 goals in 34 appearances including the winner at Pride Park in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final against Frank Lampard's Derby County before an injury ruled him out for the all important second leg at Elland Road. The Rams went on to win the second leg spectacularly and reach the play off final. 

Injury forced Roofe to sign for Anderlecht for the 2019-20 season but was clearly a fan favourite at Leeds given his excellent exploits at the Yorkshire club for three seasons. Bielsa was clearly unhappy to see his star striker leave Leeds for Belgium.

Rangers have signed a player who has pace and loves to get behind the defenders which could prove extremely successful in the Scottish premier league where the defenders hate to see strikers running behind them. 

Another added advantage that Gerard would benefit from the Walsall born Roofe's arrival at Ibrox is the very fact that the striker is used to the hard grind of the ultra competitive English Championship game which would help the English manager in inculcating his message clearly of what he expects from his new player. Furthermore with Jermaine Defoe injured Roofe could prove to be a fine attacking partner should Morelos stay in Scotland.

Taking into account that Alfredo Morelos will not stay at Rangers for long, Roofe would make a good partnership with the inventive Romanian midfielder Ianis Hagi whose vision and technique could prove to be immensely productive at Ibrox should the two combine well as Gerrard expects them to. For Rangers to stop Celtic's march for a 10th consecutive Premier League title, Kemar Roofe has to play a substantial role upfront and see his name written in Rangers folklore for the 2020-21 season.

Featured image credits: Rangers.co.uk