With Ryan Kent's contract up at the end of the season, speculation continues to surround his Rangers future.

The Ibrox club forked out around £7million for the winger back in 2019 after a successful loan spell from Liverpool.

The 26-year-old has been an inspired piece of business by the Ibrox club, with his performances and consistency leading to them lifting their 55th title two years ago, as well as huge progress on a European front.

However, the Englishman's deal expires at Ibrox this summer.

With only a few months left to go until the end of the season, it very much remains to be seen where Kent plays his football next term.

Michael Beale revealed that contract talks have been placed on hold while Rangers contend with important games during this period.

Beale has managed to get the best out of Kent once again, after the attacker struggled under Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the first few months of the campaign.

Miller reckons the Gers boss deserves praise for that. And it was here that he theorised over Kent's future - posing the question: why would he be playing so much under Beale if his future lay elsewhere?

READ MORE: Rangers draw Liverpool comparisons after hammering of Hibs

Miller told the Daily Record: "In terms of Kent, the manager has to take a lot of credit. Because it’s been a conundrum for the last two Rangers gaffers - how do you get him more involved in games?

"The boy has ability, everyone knows that. But it’s been in flashes for me. Even in Europe against top-quality opposition or when Rangers won the title, you just never felt Kent was producing complete performances.

"The only thing missing at Hibs - and it’s been the same throughout his career so far - was goals. The level of chances he had was very high and he was at the heart of every good move on Wednesday.

"But if he’d have scored one or two goals on top of that? We’d seriously be talking about a 9.5 or 10 out of 10 display. It was THAT good.

"Kent is obviously one of the high-profile players who is out of contract this summer. But Michael has had a relationship with him for a number of years and clearly rates him highly. If he’s been told by the club that he’s free to go - I wouldn’t expect to see him putting in performances like he did against Hibs.

"In fact, if he isn’t going to be at Ibrox next season, would the manager even be playing him? I’m sure Michael would now want to build with the players he knows will be there next term. And I’d be surprised if Kent isn’t one that he’s desperate to keep moving forward. He has performances like the other night in him - we all know that.

"He did it against Borussia Dortmund last season, who are a powerhouse of European football. They couldn’t live with him. Against Hibs, he was constantly involved, he never disappeared. And Michael will be hoping he can reproduce that until the end of the season."