Alfredo Morelos is messing with my head. Regular readers of this column will know by now that I’m a big admirer of the Colombian striker.

When he’s been out of form, out of shape and even at times when he’s been bang out of order, I’ve been the first one to stand up for the guy and make a case for his defence. When others have said he is more trouble than he’s worth, I’ve always disagreed. Because when Morelos is focussed, fit and playing at the top of his game, there’s not a striker in the country who gets even close.

If you don’t believe me then just ask the Hearts defenders who were taken apart by him on Wednesday night. They’ll be the first to admit that, when he’s in that kind of mood, he’s just about unplayable. And that’s why I’ve reached the point where I’m tearing my hair out with him. I watched him against St Johnstone last Saturday and I started to wonder if his heart is really in it after all.

Yes, he was sharp at times and the touch that set up Glen Kamara’s goal was out of this world. But I was left feeling disappointed, frustrated and more than a little bit short changed because the Alfredo Morelos I know is capable of giving so much more. Then I’m sitting on my sofa watching him terrorising Hearts at Tynecastle and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Where was that guy hiding at the weekend?’.

Honestly, I just can’t work him out any more. And I don’t have the first clue what’s going through his own mind now that he’s entering into the last few months of his Rangers contract. Yes, he’s looking fitter and sharper than he has been for a long while. And that’s great. But we shouldn’t be giving a pat on the back for that now that we’re going into February!

So I don’t know if he’s trying to win himself a new deal to stay at Ibrox beyond the summer. Or if he’s getting his act together in the hope of winning himself a big move somewhere else. But what I do know is that when he plays like that he’s almost impossible to replace. Centre forwards of that quality simply don’t grow on trees.

And I could see right from the start of the game on Wednesday night that he had turned up for his work. Morelos set the tempo for the rest of the team and you could see the other players responding all around him. That’s what this guy brings to the party and it’s why I’ve always been one of his biggest supporters.

But he’s also an enigma so it’s become impossible to know what you’re going to get from him from one game to the next. What the future holds for him, I honestly don’t know. And Michael Beale is probably in the same boat right now. It will be fascinating to see how it all plays out between now and the end of the season.

Rangers' Alfredo Morelos
Rangers' Alfredo Morelos

But, while he’s trying to puzzle that one out, the Rangers manager won’t have to think twice when it comes to fixing up a new deal for Malik Tillman. The more I see of the young American the more I can’t quite believe how lucky Rangers are to have him. His quality was never in any doubt. The boy is a technician with a natural ability which cannot be taught.

But, since Beale’s arrival, he has added a work rate and an enthusiasm to his game which just might take him to a whole new level. The suggestion is Rangers have a deal in place to buy him from Bayern Munich for 5 million euros. While that might seem like a lot of money, it looks like a bargain Beale would bite your hand off for right now.

He’s only 20-years-old which means he’s only a baby in football terms. So if Rangers can get a deal done for him at that price then they’ll end up making a small fortune from him at some point in the future. Guaranteed. Beale has a real player on his hands with this one and I think it’s fair to say the excitement around what the manager is putting together at Ibrox is really beginning to grow.

I really enjoyed the full performance at Tynecastle and that’s the first time in a long time I’ve felt that way about a Rangers team. Bit by bit, Beale has been making improvements. But this was the first time it’s all come together for an entire 90 minutes. And I absolutely loved it. I’d go as far as to say that the standard has now been set for the rest of this season. And what looked like a long shot of a title challenge just became a whole lot more real.

I’m not going to shy away from the fact that Celtic are still nine points clear, with a goal difference so big it might as well be 10. And the way Ange Postecoglou has got his side motoring, it’s still very difficult to see them blowing up now. I get all that. But what I saw at Tynecastle has given me reason to believe that Beale’s Rangers might be the real deal.

The tempo they played at. The way they moved the ball. The flexibility in the system. The interchanging. The amount of bodies that were piling forward. There were a few times I counted eight players in the last third of the pitch which shows a real dangerous intent to their play. It was never going to happen overnight but, week by week, Beale has got to grips with this team and there is now genuine reason for the fans to feel excited about the direction they’re moving in.

Let’s put it this way. If I was a Celtic fan watching that performance then I’d have to admit there’s a proper challenge coming from across the city. And they haven’t felt like that for quite some time. The January signings of Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin - along with the return to fitness of Ianis Hagi - have added more options and genuine quality to the mix. It excites me to see how Beale bleeds them into his starting lineup because he now has serious competition for places all over the pitch.

And that will bring the best out of players because they know they can’t take their shirt for granted. If they get a chance to play then they have to grab it with both hands or they’ll be watching the next one from the bench. And that’s the way it has to be at a club like Rangers.

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