By George Overhill

26th Mar, 2023 | 9:02pm

Alfredo Morelos puts pressure on Michael Beale over Rangers future after Everton footage emerges

That Alfredo Morelos’s Rangers future is undecided is no secret but the striker looks to be putting pressure on boss Michael Beale after being pictured in an Everton shirt.

The Colombian is back in his home country during the international break and was seen having a kick about in a Toffees jersey, via Karina Isa Ruiz of his foundation on Tik Tok Saturday (25 March).

This comes less than 10 days after the Ibrox manager dispelled suggestions that there were any issues between him and his goalscorer, and dismissing suggestions of a pre-contract agreement for him to leave for Sevilla.

Beale told Sky Sports on 16 March: “There was no truth in the Seville rumour, which I knew as well. Listen we’re committed to each other to the end of the season. There’s discussions going on in between that. Since I’ve come in Alfredo’s trained and played very well…

“There’s certainly no issues between me and him, we’re on the same page, and we’ll just keep working to the summer. I think everything for the moment is open for discussion.”

Morelos wearing an (old) Everton shirt doesn’t automatically mean he’s heading to Goodison Park in the summer, but he knows as well as anyone what sort of speculation it would spark so it is surely no accident.

Whether it is a ‘come and get me plea’ to the striker-needy Premier League side or a reminder to Beale that there are other options out there, the 26-year-old must have known what he is doing.

It is easy to read too much into these things, but that is exactly the point. A long-time Rangers star whose contract is into its final months appearing in the shirt of another team will inevitably gain attention.

In itself it’s not a terrible crime, and one innocent link is that compatriot Yerry Mina is a Toffees player, but it puts pressure on Beale to keep addressing the issue.

If everything is truly on the table as the manager says then the pair are sure to have another conversation when the striker gets back to Scotland after his latest move, as Morelos appears to be pressing the matter to a conclusion one way or the other.

Whether he wants an offer from Everton or a better one from the Bears he won’t have obliviously put the shirt on without any thought for the message it sends out, especially given he was linked to a move to Merseyside just over a year ago [CBS, 1 January 2022].

In other Rangers news, a midfield gem could be the catalyst for the manager to overturn Celtic if Ross Wilson takes advantage of the player’s miserable luck to bring him to Ibrox.