Michael Beale insists that Rangers’ departing players can leave Ibrox with their heads held high as the Englishman prepares to overhaul his squad this summer.

It was announced on Tuesday that Allan McGregor, Fil Helander, Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos will not be offered contract extensions, and the quintet will exit the club in the summer on free transfers.

Beale insisted that the decisions to release the players were made months ago – with the exception of Arfield, who the Englishman admits he is a little reluctant to let go.

However, the Rangers manager believes all five players have left their mark during their time in Glasgow’s south side and hopes they will receive a fitting farewell from supporters in the team’s final home fixture of the season against Hearts.

“Individually their contributions have been excellent,” Beale said. “Allan is obviously a hall of fame member and has been a fantastic servant to the club over two periods with many fantastic moments where he’s shown his class as a goalkeeper.

“Fil Helander we’ve not had available for a long time due to his struggles with injury. But when he came in he was a big signing and the partnership he built with Connor Goldson was the foundation to the league winning season. He’s been a big loss to us.

“Scott Arfield pulls on the heart strings big time because as a man and a person he’s been absolutely outstanding around the place.

“He’s adored by the fans, not only his team-mates and the staff. That was a real amicable conversation between us over the last couple of months, an ongoing one around playing time, players coming in what the squad will look like and what Scott needs himself going forward.

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“A difficult decision to come to that one but the right one for all parties.

“Ryan Kent’s contribution has been fantastic, certainly in big matches in Europe and domestically. This season hasn’t gone the way Ryan would have liked it to but he’s certainly been an excellent player for Rangers.

“And for Alfredo, for the outlay and what we got back, he’s had an outstanding contribution to the club. European top goal scorer and was player of the year last year before suffering an injury. He’s had a stop-start season this year.

“Their contribution has been huge. It’s a sad day but I’m sure the fans will show their appreciation tomorrow night.”

Beale added that supporters can expect another announcement before Wednesday's match as another new recruit is officially unveiled – but the majority of Rangers’ work in the transfer market will take place this summer.

“We’ll announce a new signing tomorrow [Wednesday],” he said. “There are different bits going on, there are different parts to the window.

“You have the moment when players are out of contract that you can announce coming in. Most of our work will be done on buying and selling, so that will be done in a few weeks when the window opens.”