This piece is an extract from yesterday's Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 5pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.
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If anyone can understand the contract situations that Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent find themselves in, it’s Connor Goldson.
The 30-year-old defender signed a new four-year deal at Ibrox this summer when an exit seemed inevitable. Particularly after his absence inflicted by injury earlier this season, Goldson’s importance to the team has never been more widely appreciated despite the consistency shown since a move from Brighton in 2018.
Kent and Morelos’ current contracts run out this summer. Both must make a decision on their future, just like Goldson last year.
Speaking about his own experience last week, the defender said: "You look at the people who have left the club - are they happy?
"My wife said to me, ‘you could have more money but are you going to play?’ She knows what I’m like when I don’t play.
"Listen, would I love them to stay? Yes. But they have to make their own decision for their careers. I didn’t really want anyone speaking to me about it.
"It’s their decision. They are good players and if they want to stay we will be really happy to have them here.
"But if they don’t then Rangers Football Club has to move on and move on quickly to get new players who are ready to win because that’s what we are here for."
Logic tells you extensions are more likely now than before Michael Beale arrived. Generally, the club is in a better place on the pitch because as everyone knows, football is a whole lot easier if you win every Saturday. The only blip on Beale’s report card thus far is an Old Firm draw in January. That aside, the victories have been constant.
On an individual basis, both Kent and Morelos are performing at better levels too.
READ MORE: How Michael Beale's Malik Tillman Rangers prediction paid off
The latter has six league goals in eight starts. Chances during recent home ties with St Johnstone and Ross County should see that total sit higher but the Colombian always feels more likely to score a double away at Tynecastle than during a run-of-the-mill home tie.
“He’s very happy at the moment and if he’s happy I’m happy for him because I think he’s playing well,” Beale said on Morelos after the 3-0 win at Tynecastle last week.
“A lot is thrown at him from time to time but as a boy that I see every day, we have a really good relationship and he seems very calm and he seems to be enjoying his football.”
Kent’s relationship with Beale is well-documented, speaking after a 3-2 at Kilmarnock last month the attacker said: “The manager has been key in my career since I was a young lad. I have full trust in him and that's reciprocated.”
The 26-year-old looks so much more comfortable playing in a free role. Dislodged from the restrictions of the exclusive left-wing berth previously occupied, Kent is enjoying the space Malik Tillman and Todd Cantwell help to create. He looks lighter and brighter.
In periods, Rangers are becoming fun to watch again and clearly, that will extend to the player’s own involvement.
The grass is not always greener and picking the right move, not just any move, is vital if Kent and Morelos don’t sign on beyond the summer. The acquisitions of Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin demonstrate the profile of player that can be attracted with Beale at the helm. Both cited the manager as a key dictator in their decision to pick Rangers.
Goldson, therefore, sums up the Kent and Morelos debate succinctly.
If they continue on the trajectory travelled since Beale returned, extensions will be rightly welcomed. There’s more dubiety surrounding Morelos because of his actions at the start of the season but even still, if he can recover top form he’s a tricky player to replace. Keeping Kent, especially playing in this system, feels like a no-brainer.
However, Rangers won’t suffer from an over-dependence that once existed if an extension can’t be agreed upon. There are others who can take this team where they want to be.
Take it from Goldson. Arguably, nobody understands this situation as well as he does.
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