Rangers transfer news: £1m-plus Lawrence Shankland deal ‘no-brainer’ after Danilo blow as Hearts tipped to fight
Lawrence Shankland is now a “no-brainer” for Rangers after Danilo was ruled out by injury at Ibrox, according to Lee McCulloch.
The former Gers captain said on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show (8 December) that he felt Hearts would be looking for £2million to let the Scotland international go while the Light Blues should be looking to spend just over half of that for a player who is “definitely” good enough for the club, after the blow to the Brazilian.
However, Tam McManus suggested it would be harder to complete a deal in January with the Jambos set to “fight tooth and nail” to keep the 28-year-old until at least the summer, although he agreed that Philippe Clement “definitely” needs a new striker after the “big miss” of having Danilo unavailable.
McCulloch said (7.25pm): “Is he good enough? For me, yes he definitely is. He would enhance the forward line and they’ve got another injury… it would be a no-brainer but the money would have to be right.”
McManus added: “Danilo’s a big miss, he’s the one from the new signings whose actually looked decent at times… Rangers definitely need to get a striker in, maybe two in January.
“As we know it’s not easy to get players, Hearts would fight tooth and nail to keep Shankland, at least to the summer, because they’ve got aspirations of doing something themselves.”
McCulloch later said: “His contract’s up at the end of next year. I think Hearts will want £2million for him. I think Rangers should pay just over a million for him.”
Put two and two together
As if Rangers needed any more proof that goalscoring help is a must in January the news earlier in the day that Danilo’s injury and potential surgery has now ruled out arguably the top striker option so far this season has provided it.
Clement himself confirmed he will be looking at the position as one of the “priorities” in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Dundee game [Football Scotland, 8 December].
But he also played down the links to Shankland after speculation increased again following the 1-0 Rangers win at Tynecastle on Wednesday.
McCulloch’s price prediction is a lot lower than most so if that is anywhere near accurate it seems a foregone conclusion that the Light Blues to go for it.
But Hearts are surely going to be loath to let their key man go when they are struggling for goals from elsewhere so a deal could well be tough to do next month.
Even if that proves impossible there seems plenty of reason to suspect it could still be one that gets done in the summer, but Clement will need an alternative in a few weeks’ time.
In other Rangers news, there isn’t set to be much of a spend at all at Ibrox in January says Tom English.