IF I had been making the decision on whether to keep or sell Alfredo Morelos this week, he would have been gone.

That is not because I want to see him leave or because I don’t think he is a good player. But £8million is a lot of money for Rangers.

I know people will say he could be worth more come the summer but anything can happen between now and then. He could lose form or he could get injured and that money might not be on the table in a couple of months.

So, personally speaking, I think it was a good deal for Rangers and one that could have been done. Graeme Murty and the board have decided otherwise, however.

I found it astonishing that someone would want to pay that sort of money for him right now, even though he is the top scorer in the Premiership at the moment.

He is a good striker but, for me, he should have had more goals this season and his ratio of chances to goals could certainly be improved.

But there is no doubt that he has a bit of promise and he should get better and better. His aim now is to keep scoring as often as he can.

A couple of years ago, Rangers would have bitten someone’s hand off if they had been offered £8million for a player but they have looked at it and decided it is not the right thing to do at the moment.

If Graeme is going to be the manager beyond the end of the season, he needs to finish second in the Premiership and make a challenge for the Scottish Cup and there is no doubt having Morelos in the squad gives Rangers a better chance of achieving those aims.

I can understand completely why Graeme would want him to stay and he has obviously spoken to Mark Allen and Dave King and he has had his say in a football sense.

But I don’t think Graeme has made his case from a personal point of view and thought about how it could impact on his chances of getting the job.

He knows what the club is all about, he knows we need to be up there challenging for the league and winning cups and I think that is the reason he is as keen to keep Morelos.

It could all go wrong and we could finish third and people will be saying ‘well, we should have taken the money when we had the chance’. But Graeme knows Alfredo and believes that he can get better and hopefully that is the case, for Rangers’ sake as well as the player’s.

If Graeme has said he doesn’t want to sell him and he needs him in the team, then well done to the board for sticking by him.

Dave King comes in for a lot of stick, some of which is justified at times, but in this case he has given Graeme his place and he has backed his manager.

There has been a lot of nonsense said and written about the finances at Rangers and it would have been easy for them to take the money and wish Alfredo well for the future.

It would have been natural to think ‘we can sell Morelos and get somebody else in’ but they have made a big decision and hopefully it pays off.

There are so many daft rumours doing the rounds about what is going on at Ibrox and £8million is a lot of money to Rangers right now.

The chairman could have said ‘Graeme, I appreciate where you are coming from, but that money will help us a lot’. That hasn’t happened, though, and he deserves credit for that.

That shows how the board feel about the manager and it is a sign of intent from Rangers that they want their best players and they want to keep progressing. They clearly feel keeping Morelos is the best way forward.

Listen, come the summer, that may change. If he does well in the second half of the season, there could be bigger bids on the table and the situation will have to be looked at again because there could be more time to get someone else in.

It would be understandable if Morelos had been thinking about the money he could make and what the future holds for him. That scenario is going to get to anybody.

That might still be in his mind but I am sure the manager will sit him down and say that this was done for his benefit.

Of course he would have been financially better off but if he stays for the rest of the season and scores 20, 25 goals, there will be better moves open to him than going to China.

If he does well at Rangers, he will get to play in the Premier League or in Europe and the big money will follow as a result.

He has to forget about China and do what he does best and that is score goals. If he does that and he performs, then clubs will come in for him.

Next time, if the timing is right and the money is right, Rangers may take a different stance but that will only be an issue if Morelos does the business on the park.

He would have made plenty of money in China but he can make a name for himself at Ibrox and that is what he has to focus on doing in the coming weeks and months.