Tom English sends Rangers message live on BBC after £5million news emerges
Tom English has told Rangers they could have signed Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland a long time ago if they wanted him for less than £5million.
Hearts are said to be demanding that fee in January if anyone wants to sign the Scotland international, who has been consistently linked with Ibrox.
The BBC journalist did admit that Hearts should play hardball for their star man after he scored yet again in a 2-0 win against Celtic on Saturday 16 December.
After it was said that Hearts would be looking for £5million, Leanne Crichton did not agree with the figure live on BBC Scotland Sport Sound.
“Way over the top,” she said. “I think if you’re talking January transfer window for somebody like Lawrence Shankland, £3-3.5-4million at a push.”
English then replied: “Why would you not play the hardest of hardball with anybody?
“A big miss was now, if they’re going to go for him because of budgets, they could have got him before, Celtic and Rangers could have got Lawrence Shankland if they wanted him.
“For less than £5million.”
Cash?
John Bennett has made it clear recently that Philippe Clement will have money to spend in January, with the summer spending having no impact on his budget.
The issue facing the Belgian is that with so many injuries in the squad right now, there are so many areas that could be strengthened, but there won’t be that much money.
Shankland is one name that continues to float around, and with Danilo now ruled out for months, that would make perfect sense and he would bring guaranteed goals.
It is hard to think of anyone in the country who is better at getting his name on the scoresheet, and you would have to think that would improve even further in blue.
£5million is a huge chunk of cash, but Hearts would likely be stupid to not try and price anyone out of taking their star man, that should be expected.
This is one to watch, but if it does happen, the message from English will linger given that he could have arrived much sooner for cheaper too.
In other Rangers news, Kris Boyd has slammed Ben Davies for what he did this week