Rangers have to act as Steven Naismith shares Hearts contract stance on Lawrence Shankland
Rangers’ pursuit of Hearts ace Lawrence Shankland has been a poorly kept secret in recent weeks.
With Danilo injured, Kemar Roofe struggling for fitness, and Cyriel Dessers still an unreliable source of goals, there is a need for at least one striker to arrive at Ibrox in January to help boss Philippe Clement.
Shankland, 28, has been long-linked with Rangers even though Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay said it would take an “incredibly exceptional” offer to tempt them to sell (Daily Record, 16 December).
That stance was shared by Hearts boss Steven Naismith, who issued a warning that the club are not in the market to sell their prized assets.
In quotes reported by the Daily Record (16 December), he said: “There’s been a lot of noise, the club’s stance is very clear and it’s the stance of a club that’s trying to be progressive and wants to be successful.
“As a club and as you’ve seen with some signings and hopefully others in the near future, the club are trying to grow and by doing that you need to try and keep your best players. It would be silly not to offer new contracts to the guys you feel are valuable and can play a part in the long-term future of the club.”
The thing is, any manager is always going to be stoic when their best players are linked with other clubs, no coach wants to see their top talent move elsewhere.
And Shankland has proven a top talent for Hearts, scoring 31 goals in 53 Scottish Premiership outings for the Edinburgh outfit.
But, as we all know, money talks and if Rangers stump up the cash they the likelihood remains that Shankland will be a Rangers player next month.
The talk of a new contract does put some time pressure on things, though, and Rangers certainly have to act quickly if they want to land their man.
Let’s hope they are on the ball with this one.
In other Rangers news, the club were handed an added incentive in Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final after what happened on Thursday.