Barry Ferguson has urged Rangers to offer Ryan Jack a new deal, with his current contract running out in the summer.

The combative midfielder has struggled with injuries this term, but he has been a key performer for Michael Beale at Ibrox in recent weeks.

Jack also featured for Scotland during the international break as he started against Cyprus at Hampden Park under the leadership of Steve Clarke.

Rangers legend Ferguson is a big fan of Jack and he reckons he is a key figure of Beale's squad.

He explained: "A lot of people have been talking about (Nicolas) Raskin and (Todd) Cantwell, and rightly so because they have impressed but Ryan Jack's been a big part of that.

"He's the one that keeps it solid in the middle of the pitch and lets the footballers go and do their stuff.

"The only issue with Ryan Jack is making sure he continues to be fit week in and week out, and if Jack is free of injury, I still think he's got a big part to play at Rangers."

Meanwhile, 

Rangers manager Michael Beale has urged his players to be more ruthless in front of goal against struggling Dundee United despite hitting 14 goals in their last four games.

Gers have scored at least three goals in each of those matches but Beale still saw room for improvement ahead of their clash with the bottom club at Ibrox on Saturday.

The game pits Beale against former Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin for the third time since his Rangers managerial career began in earnest in mid-December and he knows the Irishman will set out to frustrate.

But he feels Rangers are capable of putting away more chances than they did when beating Motherwell 4-2 last time out.

Beale told Rangers TV: “You are playing a coach for the third time in your spell here. Obviously with Aberdeen it was two quite close games that we got victories in and they are fighting for their lives down the bottom of the league, and they will come to Ibrox and make it tough, like most teams do. I am sure they will try and reduce the space on the pitch.

“It is important for us that we are very sharp in the final third and we keep creating the opportunities that we are and scoring goals.

“Of late we have scored quite a lot of goals but it’s also fair to say in every single game we could have scored more.

“For me the most important thing is that we are creating chances and scoring.

“I would like us still to be a little more ruthless because I think if you look back to the Motherwell game we should have scored more goals, the Raith game as well, away at Hibs we should have scored more goals.

“There are good signs that we are scoring threes and fours, but also I want us to be a little bit more ruthless.”