GRAEME MURTY insists he is under no financial pressure to cash in on Alfredo Morelos if it jeopardises Rangers’ ambitions for the second half of the campaign.

The striker has been the subject of a £7million bid from the Chinese Super League this week after catching the eye in Light Blue in recent months.

Morelos has netted 13 times since moving to Ibrox in a £1million deal from HJK Helsinki in the summer as he has quickly become a firm favourite with the Gers fans.

And boss Murty is determined to retain as strong a squad as possible as he looks to finish second in the Premiership and win the Scottish Cup this term.

He said: “Alfredo is attracting interest because he’s doing well. People are looking at him as an asset. He’s our player at the moment and currently no one has met our valuation.

“We need to make sure that as much as we respect people’s valuation of Alfredo, we’ve got a job to do this season and need to make sure we push as high up the table as we can.

“So we need to maintain his squad at its current level if not improve it.

“It would be very difficult to replace the goals he’s scored and the person he is.

“We’re not prepared to take the money and risk a positive second half of the season because the feeling around the camp is positive at the moment.

“The feeling around our direction is positive at the moment. It makes no sense to get satisfaction in the short term monetarily if we are going to risk a positive second half of the season if we don’t have the capacity or ability to replace him.”

SportTimes revealed earlier this month that Rangers could look for a fee in the region of £10million before they considered doing business for one of their prized assets.

And Murty insists the financial case won’t be the only one that will be considered as Rangers weigh up their options.

He said: “There’s dialogue ongoing. Our position won’t change as far as I can tell.

“The figures are eye-opening at the moment but we’re not in a position where we’re being told we have to sell.

“We have to make sure we make footballing decisions for footballing reasons. If that’s the case, I’m really happy with that.

“I’m not saying that [he’s not for sale]. But we have to make sure we can replace talent with talent. And if that talent isn’t out there it makes no sense to satisfy an economic target or figure unless we can strengthen the squad.

“I’m not going to weaken the squad just to take money. We’re not in a position where we have to do that. We’re looking at lots and lots of things.”