Throughout last season, Lewis Morgan’s body was akin to a charging battery: slowly building strength, but not quite reaching max capacity.

His health drained him in 2023. Three separate hip injuries saw him play just six matches that campaign. But 2024 was more fortuitous and he finished as the top scorer for the New York Red Bulls.

While he admits he wasn’t ‘100 percent’ at any point last year, his performances were enough to win MLS’ Comeback Player of the Year award as he bagged 13 goals and seven assists across 36 matches.

In an exclusive interview with Mail Sport, Morgan opened up on his performance last season, the defeat in the championship final, his hopes for his Scotland career, and what it’s like to have Jurgen Klopp watching as he re-affirmed his commitment to the club.

Scotsman Lewis Morgan is primed for a full rebound season with the New York Red Bulls

Multiple injuries in 2023 led to a long recovery across 2024, where he bagged 13 goals

Now, with the 2025 MLS season already underway, Morgan hopes to shine for himself and any particularly interested eyes across the pond

It was only a few weeks ago that Klopp, the newly appointed director of Red Bull Global Football, made his first official visit to the New York Red Bulls’ training ground in the town of Whippany, New Jersey – roughly 30 miles from New York City.

On offer for him were team meetings, familiarizing himself with the squad, and watching a friendly between RBNY and second-division side Hartford Athletic.

But Klopp was also on hand to witness Morgan signing an extension with the club he’d been a part of since 2021.

Klopp’s addition to the Red Bull football system is staggering on its own, but for Morgan, the promise of improvement under the German’s gaze is cause for excitement.

‘He’s exactly as you’d think. The energy he’s got, the enthusiasm he has,’ Morgan told the Mail. ‘I think one point that was made whilst we were getting introduced to him and before he’d spoke, was every club he’s been at, he’s left in a far better position than what he inherited.

‘So of course, we hope with us, it’s the exact same effect. But for that to happen, we know that we need to play our part as well, and we need to buy into everything that Red Bull are wanting to do.’

Of course, the Red Bulls are a club with un-met ambition. They remain one of two founding members of MLS who have yet to win MLS Cup – the league’s championship.

Jurgen Klopp made his first official visit to the New York Red Bulls earlier in February

On that same day, Morgan signed a contract extension to stay in New York at least until 2026

Morgan said Klopp is ‘exactly as you’d think. The energy he’s got, the enthusiasm he has’

They’ve reached the final twice in their history, including last year’s shock run to the championship game in December. After sweeping aside the Columbus Crew, hated rivals New York City FC, and Orlando City, they ultimately fell at the final hurdle against the LA Galaxy.

Rather than wallow in their misery, Morgan says the mindset at the club is one of learned lessons, which could provide a boost for their success this season.

‘The whole playoff run was away from home or going to all these places,’ Morgan explained. ‘We were expending so much energy to win and then you go away again and you go 2-0 down after 10 minutes and everything’s against you.

‘We didn’t play our best that day. I didn’t play my best that day. We probably didn’t really impose our style in the game that much, but we lose the game 2-1.

‘Anything can happen in football, you know what I mean? If we can get ourselves back into the playoffs this year, which is the bare minimum for this club, it’s the expectation, then we know that we can go on a run again and try and flip the script and win it all.’

Prior to his arrival in America, Morgan was one of the few footballers who have tasted what it’s like to be on both sides of the Old Firm.

He had spent nearly nine years in the academy for Rangers, his boyhood club, before being released at age 16. After working his way from the youth ranks to the first team at St Mirren, he returned to Glasgow – but this time, on the opposite bank of the River Clyde and pitched up at Parkhead.

Morgan spent a majority of his time with Celtic out on loan – first at St Mirren for the rest of the 2017-18 season, later with Sunderland.

Last season ended with a surprise run to the MLS Cup Final, where RBNY lost to the LA Galaxy

Morgan believes the team will use the loss as motivation to push themselves to another miracle

But of his 31 appearances for the Hoops, there was just a single Old Firm match among them: a start, as striker, in the 2019 Scottish League Cup final.

Morgan was taken off on the 59th minute for Odsonne Edouard. Just a minute later, Christopher Jullien tapped home a free kick which proved the lone goal to win the trophy for Celtic.

Feelings of internal conflict – especially coming from a family of Rangers supporters -could maybe have been excused. But Morgan left all personal affiliations at the door.

When asked if his family were happy for him despite their allegiances, Morgan chuckled and said, ‘My brother is a massive Rangers fan, he would not have been happy for sure.’

He continued: ‘When I was at Celtic, I always wanted the best for Celtic when I’m playing there and representing them.

‘They’re the ones that employ you, they’re the ones that are giving you the opportunity to do what you love.

‘So there was never a hesitation in my mind that when I was with them, I was all in.’

At this point, a wry smile creeps across his face: ‘And now I’m not with them. I’m a Rangers fan, that’s just how it is. You can’t change what you were growing up.’

Morgan is one of the few to have experienced both sides of the Old Firm: starting in the Rangers academy before being cut at age 16. Later in his career, he represented Celtic

The one Old Firm match he played in was the 2019 Scottish League Cup Final, which Celtic won

It was while he was with Celtic that he made his debut for the Scottish national team

Morgan is a proud Scotsman – and a lucky one, having earned seven caps for his home country. But rather than a fully-fledged fairytale, Morgan’s road into Steve Clarke’s side was met with barriers.

He made his international debut in a friendly against Peru on May 30, 2018. Cap No. 2 came just a few days later at the venerated Estadio Azteca in Mexico.

But the third cap? That didn’t come until six years later, in a friendly against Finland on June 7, 2024. He’s made substitute appearances since then, including against Hungary in the last minute of the final match of Scotland’s Euro 2024 campaign.

Morgan points to injury issues, a lack of experience, and the Covid crisis as potential reasons for his lack of caps but adds, ‘Our national team were doing so well. I mean, every player had earned their spot.’

He continued: ‘Of course, six years is a long wait in terms of appearances, but that’s where you’ve got to be in football. You’ve got to just be ready for any opportunity that comes along. It’s a privilege.’

As for how he can turn substitutions into starts, Morgan admits there’s work for him to do but believes it’s ‘a testament to the squad that we have that it’s… so difficult to break in.’

His focus is ‘on Red Bull… and then anything with Scotland will come off the back of that.’

That debut came back in 2018 in a friendly against Peru, followed by a match against Mexico

But then six years spanned between that debut and his next cap. Morgan has since gone on to appear in seven total fixtures – including this one at Euro 2024 – all coming as a substitute.

Morgan plans to focus on his form for RBNY and says ‘anything with Scotland will come off the back of that.’

Morgan’s return to full power comes as his club is looking to break its duck. With the winger at his healthiest, the Red Bulls can be a force in MLS – which kicked off this past weekend – and from there, who knows what fortunes may come his way.

Just before leaving, the question had to be asked: what was a bigger match? That 2019 Cup final? or the MLS Cup final last year?

A long pause followed, then an answer: ‘I felt way more involved in the lead up and getting us to the MLS Cup Final. For me, that was a bigger match. Rangers and Celtic is the biggest rivalry in world football. So, bigger game. It’s that over every game in football, probably in terms of scale. But for me, the bigger game for me personally was the MLS Cup Final.’