Ally McCoist insists Rangers are to blame for the Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos contract situations - saying his former club should have sorted it out years ago. Meanwhile Chris Sutton branded Morelos a "disgrace" despite his matchwinner against Hibs, as the two icons debated the ongoing uncertainty at Ibrox.
Michael Beale has been tasked with steering the ship back on track at Ibrox after things went awry towards the end of the Gio van Bronckhorst era. While he's focused on breathing some life back into the title race and keeping it alive for as long as he can, arguably more pressing is the long-term rebuild he faces with Morelos and Kent among the most pressing issues to address.
The key duo both started that win over Hibs but are out of contract at the end of the season and Beale has challenged them to step up and earn new deals. Speaking on BT Sport's Scottish Football Extra, McCoist said: "(Morelos) is going to have to change his mindset, never mind his mind. The first thing you do is sit him down, you offer him a contract, and if yes, great. If he says no, he's got to leave the club."
Fellow pundit Sutton then asked if he'd sell him in January and McCoist said: "If you can get money for him, yes, absolutely. A fit and healthy Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are without doubt a benefit to Rangers. But Kent for whatever reason hasn't shown anything like the consistency Rangers fans would like to see, because looking at that squad, he's probably the most talented player in the squad. He's got something different that Rangers need.
"Morelos is the same. He hasn't performed at anything like the level we have seen. So you need to sit them down, have a right good chat with them, see how focused they are and if they want to stay. All these questions need to be ironed out. And for the record, they should have been ironed out over a year ago."
And Sutton wasn't disagreeing although did go in harder on Morelos. He responded: "Morelos all season has been a disgrace. Michael Beale coming in might get more out of him.
"On Kent, Ally's right, Rangers fans - and I'm not one of them - would feel that his numbers should be better and he should be performing better with the talent he has. I'm confused about where Kent is going to end up anyway if he does leave Rangers, but if he gets them firing in the second half of the season, the title race isn't over yet, so you never know."
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