Rangers must ready January transfer for Lawrence Shankland after excellent display v Motherwell
Since arriving at Rangers, Philippe Clement has breathed new life into what looked like a struggling Gers side and quickly lifted the mood at Ibrox.
The Belgian has transformed a side that looked lifeless under the management of Michael Beale and made them an attacking and exciting team, with the likes of Danilo and Todd Cantwell thriving in the manager’s new system.
However, there remains a reliance on Danilo to score the Light Blues’ goals as Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers struggle to consistently find the net despite being given a clean slate by Clement in the last few weeks.
One name that has been repeatedly linked with a move to Glasgow to shoulder the goalscoring burden is Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland, with Jonny McFarlane suggesting that a move for the striker should be a “no-brainer” [The Herald, 6 November].
With the January transfer window just around the corner, Shankland has put in a performance for Hearts that should have Rangers readying a January transfer already as he has once again shown he could do a job as Clement’s new number nine.
The 28-year-old scored twice against Motherwell and seemed to carry a threat every time he received the ball, testing Liam Kelly with six shots on goal in a man-of-the-match display [Fotmob].
Shankland showed that he can score multiple different types of goals as well, his first was a tap-in before the 30-minute mark as he turned in a corner from underneath the crossbar. The second was an excellent right-footed effort from the inside of the area that left the keeper with no chance.
It was a fairly quiet afternoon for the striker outside of the penalty area, as he only made 16 passes in the game, but he did lay on a single chance for his teammates and completed his only dribble at Fir Park.
Rangers’ issue this season hasn’t been creating chances, but has instead been putting them away and a move for Shankland this January could solve that problem single-handedly as he is scoring plenty of goals in a fairly indifferent Hearts side.
Cantwell, Abdallah Sima and James Tavernier alone would create the 28-year-old plenty of opportunities every game and supporters would feel more confident in him finding the net than they currently do with Lammers and Dessers.
Alongside Danilo, Clement could form an incredibly lethal strike partnership this January.
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has said that Clement “must” start Todd Cantwell every week now that he’s fit again